The U.S. House today passed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which authorizes $280 billion in funding to boost semiconductor and science innovation in the country.

The passage of the bill paves the way for U.S. president Joe Biden to sign the legislation into law, which would officially open up funding of up to $54.2 billion for chip companies to open new factories.

The CHIPS Act was triggered by the chip shortages over the last few years, which has held industries like automotive and consumer electronics hostage. The growing semiconductor content in cars and devices with on/off switches has led to the shutdown of car production lines, while raising prices of chips.

The Senate previously passed a modified version of the CHIPS Act – now dubbed the CHIPS-Plus Act – which then moved to the House for approval. The House voted 243-187 to pass the bill, and Biden could sign the legislation into law at any moment.

The modified version of the bill was lauded by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), which is a lobbying forum for companies that will benefit the most from legislation after it is signed into law. SIA represents companies that include Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which are building new cutting-edge factories in the U.S.

“The bill’s investments in chip production and innovation will strengthen America’s economy and national security – both of which rely heavily on chips – and reinforce our country’s semiconductor supply chains,” SIA said in a statement.

The modified bill – H. R. 4346, or the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 – has some text that could cause concerns for chipmakers. The legislation limits companies who are building cutting-edge factories in China from receiving funding.

“The covered entity may not engage in any significant transaction, as defined in the agreement, involving the material expansion of semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the People’s Republic of China or any other foreign country of concern” with an exception being the significant expansion of manufacturing of legacy semiconductors made using the 28-nanometer of older nodes.

The legislation is intended to blunt China’s advances in competitiveness in chip production by denying access to the latest chip manufacturing technologies. But SMIC, a Chinese manufacturing firm, has reportedly started making 7nm chips, bringing it closer to Intel and TSMC on technical terms.

Intel has 15 wafer fabs in 10 locations, including test and assembly sites in China.

The bill isn’t paid for, and will add $79 billion to the national deficit, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office. The bill has also attracted criticism as being giveaways to chip companies, which cashed in on the chip shortages with healthy earnings reports.

But Intel is already feeling the sting of inflation and a struggling U.S. economy, today announcing second-quarter revenue of $15.3 billion, down 22 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

The CHIPS Act also pushes significant funding toward newer initiatives like a quantum network, which “facilitate the advancement of distributed quantum computing systems through the internet and intranet,” according to the legislation. The legislation also provides funds for the development of high-end systems in areas that include biology, chemistry, physics, statistics, math and fusion energy.

The bill also assigns funding for STEM efforts, research and development and workforce training.