California congresswoman Doris Matsui has criticised Donald Trump after the US president falsely claimed that companies could receive billions of dollars through the CHIPS and Science Act only if they were run by transgender executives.
Trump made the comments during the Pennsylvania Defence and Innovation Summit on 15 July.
“We had this ridiculous CHIPS Act where you give billions of dollars to a company,” Trump said.
“And of course, the standards were so high – if you weren’t transgender, as an example, you didn’t qualify.
“So they’d get the money, they’d hire, they’d look all over for transgender people to run the company, large portions. They couldn’t find them. They weren’t into the chip-making business, I guess, right? They had other things on their mind.”
CHIPS Act Does Not Mention Transgender Executives
Trump’s claim is false.
Signed into law by then-president Joe Biden in 2022, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act provided roughly US$52 billion for semiconductor manufacturing incentives, research and workforce development.
Nothing in the legislation requires companies receiving funding to be managed by transgender people, employ transgender executives or meet any transgender-related eligibility condition.
Matsui, a Democrat who helped develop the legislation, directly rejected Trump’s remarks.
“As one of the architects of the CHIPS Act, let me be clear: Donald Trump is lying,” she told The Guardian on 16 July.
“He’s deliberately spewing disinformation to incite hatred and divide Americans while attacking one of the most important investments we’ve made in American manufacturing, economic growth, and national security.”
Comment Prompted Confusion Over Its Possible Origin
Trump’s comments prompted speculation about how he could have reached the conclusion that the legislation prioritised transgender executives.
One section of the Act refers to institutions providing education and career support to veterans and members of the Armed Forces “transitioning to the private sector workforce”.
In that context, “transitioning” clearly refers to military personnel moving into civilian employment, not to gender transition.
The legislation also refers to the Department of Energy’s former Office of Technology Transitions, an agency office concerned with commercialising new technology.
There is no evidence that either reference was the source of Trump’s misunderstanding, and the White House had not explained his remarks when initially approached for comment.
Matsui Says Claim Was Intended to Divide Americans
Matsui argued that Trump’s comments did more than misrepresent a major piece of industrial policy.
She accused him of using transgender people as a political target while attacking legislation intended to strengthen domestic manufacturing, economic growth and national security.
The CHIPS and Science Act was introduced in response to concerns about the United States’ reliance on overseas semiconductor manufacturing and shortages affecting industries ranging from vehicle production to defence technology.
Its funding conditions cover matters including project viability, workforce planning, research capacity and domestic production. They do not make a company’s eligibility dependent on the gender identity of its executives.
