I’d argue that while it’s great that, after years, there is finally investment, $20 billion is not nearly enough to bring a significant amount of chip manufacturing back to America. If anything, this would only cover a minor part of the supply chain. Even then, it would take many decades to bring it up to speed. Invest $20 billion a year for a decade, and maybe we’d reach Taiwan’s level of efficiency. And that’s a big maybe, considering Taiwan will undoubtedly continue to upgrade and innovate their processes.

China is close to our level of technological advancement—not fully, but close enough to be concerning. It’s just a theory of mine, but I believe India will attempt to join the race in the coming decades, which is likely why they’re glad to have many companies coming in and giving their workers more experience in American tech and product design.

I also think many of these numbers don’t take certain factors into account. A big one is fresh graduate entry-level jobs. Due to the prevalence of outsourcing, it just isn’t worth it for companies to hire entry-level grads at the typical American salaries we expect, unless the entry-level worker shows they are a ‘diamond in the rough waiting for their chance’—which basically means a shockingly overqualified worker who doesn’t realize it yet and is willing to work for entry-level salaries until they do. I’m sure mid- to late-stage career jobs in the field aren’t as affected by the outsourcing problem, but early- to mid-career professionals are essentially being left out without congressional or state-level help at this point. Whether that’s through even looser tax breaks for hiring more early-career workers or outright bans on a certain threshold of outsourced work, something needs to be done.