US agency may throw billions at reshoring critical supply chains

US Int’l DFC chief says tens of billions of dollars in loans and financing could be made available for reshoring effort.

PPE reshoring
The US International Development Finance Corp is talking to companies about reshoring the manufacturing of personal protective equipment, generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients, DFC Chief Executive Adam Boehler said [File: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters]

United States government financing for projects to return critical supply chains to the US as part of coronavirus response efforts could reach tens of billions of dollars – and clients may include a $12bn Taiwanese semiconductor plant, the head of the agency managing the funds told Reuters news agency.

The US International Development Finance Corp is talking to companies about reshoring the manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE), generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients, DFC Chief Executive Adam Boehler said in an interview on Monday.

Boehler said letters of understanding for some initial projects could be signed within the next month. The administration of US President Donald Trump has been pushing for US companies and importers to move manufacturing out of China.

The agency, launched in October to boost US overseas development financing efforts to counter China’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure drive, was drafted into domestic service in May, after Trump signed an executive order under the Defense Production Act.

DFC and the US Department of Defense on Monday agreed to jointly administer $100m in supply chain reshoring funds from the $2.3bn coronavirus legislation passed in March.

Company proposals to reshore are already pouring in, Boehler said.

“The areas that have come on hot right away are on the PPE side and within the pharmaceutical value chains,” Boehler said, adding that there was interest in returning some generic drug production – almost all of which is imported – to the US.

The $100m can be leveraged into “tens of billions of dollars” in loans by using it as a pool of capital similar to the US Treasury’s backing of Federal Reserve loan facilities, Boehler said. At that scale, the agency could participate in the financing of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd’s planned new factory in Arizona.

The project is a centrepiece of the push to wrestle global technology supply chains back from China. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a major supplier to Apple, Qualcomm and other major US tech firms.

“We provide loan and investment financing, so could we be relevant there? Absolutely. We’re talking tens of billions of dollars in potential here, so that’s a possibility, I wouldn’t exclude that,” Boehler said.

A financing package for TSMC would likely include private capital from the state of Arizona, and it is too soon to say whether the agency would be able to participate.

DFC was created from the former Overseas Private Investment Corp in October 29 and Congress more than doubled its overall lending capacity to $60bn.

Boehler insisted that DFC’s development mission would not be affected by Trump’s executive order – and that DFC would keep its “foot on the gas” to accelerate projects in poor countries.

The 337-employee DFC – small for a federal agency – is adding about 15 new people to focus solely on the domestic reshoring projects, he said, and the funding for overseas development will be kept separate.

The agency approved $1bn worth of investments and loans at its June board meeting, including a $200m loan to Guatemala’s Banco Industrial to expand lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. Boehler said the bank’s board in September will consider a larger slate of projects. 

Source: Reuters