Inaugural Director of the CHIPS Program Office, U.S. Department of Commerce
Mike Schmidt is a national leader in economic policy and strategic public investment, making him an exceptional keynote speaker on the future of industrial policy and technology competition in the age of artificial intelligence. He led the $39 billion CHIPS Program, the centerpiece of the U.S. effort to rebuild domestic semiconductor manufacturing and secure the supply chains that power artificial intelligence and advanced computing. Mike’s experience across federal and state government offers valuable insight into how smart, well-executed policy can drive innovation, economic resilience, and national security.
Mike Schmidt on How the CHIPS Act Avoids Past Industrial Policy Mistakes
Mike Schmidt on Building Global Coordination Around Industry
As artificial intelligence reshapes global power, production, and innovation, the race for computing power has become the defining strategic and economic contest of the 21st century. Chris Miller’s Chip War captured the stakes. As the founding Director of the CHIPS Program Office, Mike Schmidt was the first to lead America’s response. In that role, he executed tens of billions in federal semiconductor investments—unlocking hundreds of billions in total public-private capital—to begin rebuilding the physical backbone of America’s digital economy.
Schmidt maps the global competition for silicon and compute infrastructure. Around the world—Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Europe, China, and the United States—nations are racing to indigenize semiconductor manufacturing and secure digital power. Schmidt breaks down these efforts country by country and explores what they mean for U.S. competitiveness in both fabrication capacity and the compute infrastructure powering the AI age.
In the process, Schmidt provides insight into what it’s like to stand up a $39 billion government startup tasked with rebuilding a critical supply chain that eroded over the course of decades. Schmidt reflects not only on the bold bets the U.S. is placing, but also on the structural headwinds—bureaucratic, political, and economic—that threaten to hold America back.
Equal parts strategy, storytelling, and systems-level analysis, The Global Race for Silicon Supremacy brings to life the high-stakes fight for control over the technologies—and the power structures—shaping our future.
As artificial intelligence drives an unprecedented surge in demand for computing power, the United States faces a once-in-a-generation opportunity—and a defining challenge: can it rebuild a domestic AI supply chain strong enough to lead in the age of intelligence?
In this talk, Mike Schmidt offers an insider’s tour of the emerging U.S. AI supply chain: from the materials and specialized equipment needed for chip production, to the fabs that manufacture advanced semiconductors, to the packaging facilities that integrate them, to the companies that design them, to the hyperscale data centers that deploy them—and the AI systems they ultimately power. As the founding director of the CHIPS Program Office, Schmidt helped steer tens of billions in federal investment to catalyze hundreds of billions more in private capital. What he saw along the way is a country with world-class assets—but also critical vulnerabilities.
Schmidt breaks down where the U.S. leads, where it’s making progress, and where key gaps remain. Part strategy briefing, part policy roadmap, Schmidt provides is a deep dive into the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence and his thoughts on what the U.S. must do next.
Mike Schmidt served as the inaugural Director of the CHIPS Program Office (CPO) at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he led the implementation of a $39 billion grant program to incentivize semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Under his leadership, CPO executed 20 final award agreements totaling $34 billion in funding, unlocking an unprecedented wave of investment in U.S. semiconductor production—generating more than ten dollars of total investment for every federal grant dollar committed.
Before joining the Department of Commerce, Schmidt led the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s implementation of the Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan. The program delivered monthly payments to over 37 million families and lifted more than 3 million children out of poverty. He previously served as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, overseeing the state’s tax system and the collection of over $100 billion in annual revenue.
Earlier in his career, Schmidt served as Deputy Secretary for Economic Development in New York, overseeing policy and operations for 12 state agencies and authorities. He has also held roles in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Finance and as a financial analyst at the Yale Investments Office.
He holds a J.D. and a B.A. from Yale University.
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