Gina Raimondo

Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce
Title: U.S. Commerce Secretary
Industry: Government
Hometown: Smithfield, Rhode Island
Notable in 2023: Led Biden administration efforts on workforce and technologies critical to national security and American competitiveness.

Over the past year, Gina Raimondo, who was sworn in as Secretary of Commerce in 2021, has positioned the U.S. economy to compete with its growing rival China in a battle for technology supremacy.

With the CHIPS For America funding program, under the guidance of Secretary Raimondo, the Biden administration has begun a revival of its domestic semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, offering economic incentives to companies for creating and updating and creating new chip manufacturing infrastructure in the U.S.

"It is a huge national security issue and we need to move to making chips in America, not friend-shoring," Raimondo previously told CNBC.

"CHIPS for America is laser-focused on ensuring both our economic and national security by making smart investments up and down semiconductor supply chains that enable smaller suppliers and more American workers to help grow the U.S. semiconductor industry," Raimondo said in a statement outlining the application process to companies. The private sector has responded, with Commerce receiving over 550 statements of interest from companies looking to invest in America's semiconductor industry.

The actions will have ripple effects across the global economy, reversing a multi-decade retreat by the U.S. from onshore semiconductor production — a move that is both economically and symbolically important — while also elevating the nation as a global technology leader at a time of tensions with China, a relationship that Raimondo plays a key role in managing for the government and private businesses.

Raimondo recently said that CHIPS and Science Act investments will put the U.S. on track to manufacture roughly 20% of leading-edge logic chips by the end of the decade. "That's a big deal," she said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies "Why is that a big deal? Because folks, today we're at zero."

Beyond CHIPS for America, Raimondo has several other key tech initiatives under her watch. These include closing the digital divide in America, and as the potential impacts of AI breakthroughs become clear, she is among the national leaders monitoring artificial intelligence via The National Institute of Standards and Technology. She was previously a co-founder of Rhode Island's only venture capital firm, Point Judith Capital.