The US Senate approved billions of dollars in new federal funding for the American semiconductor industry on Wednesday, advancing a top priority for Washington’s efforts to out-compete China. “Today, by approving one of the largest investments in science, technology and manufacturing in decades – in decades – we say that America’s best years are yet to come,” Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate majority leader and an original sponsor of the bill, said before the vote. “If we didn’t get there first, our rivals, chief among them the Chinese Communist Party, would likely beat us to the punch and reshape the…