Bringing manufacturing back to the United States will require a significant shift in corporate strategy, leadership skills, and investment in human capital. On the other hand, it may simply require that tax benefits and government subsidies make the investment worth the cost. As Shih (2020) explained, the time in which a manufacturer could produce most, or all components needed for a finished product has long since passed. Corporations now rely on resourcing sophisticated components for their products from highly specialized manufacturers. These specialized manufacturing plants, however, carry an enormous price tag to build and outfit. Companies do not want to invest billions of dollars in capital to build manufacturing plants when the parts can be procured by those already in place.

The ultimate goal of a corporation is to increase profits and reduce costs. Investment in human capital in the United States to make a highly specialized workforce along with investment in an expensive manufacturing plant would only make sense if the financial benefit outweighed the cost. Recently TSMC, a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing company, has decided to make such an investment. TSMC announced in December 2022 that it will be building a second manufacturing plant in Arizona bringing its investment up to $40 billion (Kinery, 2022).

This foreign investment followed the CHIPS and Science Act being signed into law in August 2022 by President Biden. This law provides $52 billion for semiconductor production subsidies along with tax benefits which will cost billions more (Ambrose & Thomas, 2022).

Bringing manufacturing back to the Unites States must be an attractive option for companies. Governmental strategy to bring in foreign investment may be just what the United States needs to strengthen our position as a highly specialized manufacturing destination.

Question: After reading the opinion above, what is your response? What may be some risks or drawbacks? Please be detailed in your opinion.