United States President Joe Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, kick-starting the bid to reclaim US supremacy in semiconductor chips manufacturing. Despite the US preaching of the free market worldwide, and emphasizing its fierce opposition to government interference in industrial policies, especially the use of government subsidies in other countries, the US has finally decided to make another exception of itself. The name of the new legislation — Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors — highlights how the new legislation contravenes the free-market ethos the US constantly seeks to proselytize. It sets a rare precedent in US...