from using the CHIPS subsidies to directly fund stock buyback plans or dividends, but the lawmakers say that the funds could still be used indirectly to fund such plans.
Commerce regulators have said that the agency will give preference to CHIPS applicants that have pledged not to engage in stock buybacks, but the lawmakers say that the agency has the authority to be far stricter in implementing the law. Stock buybacks are often not only a huge boon to executives — who are frequently compensated in stocks — but also to influential shareholders, who turn around and encourage companies to implement more stock buybacks in order to enrich themselves. Buybacksshareholders to avoid paying taxes on their stock gains they would otherwise owe if they received a dividend or if they sold the stock.