US manufacturing construction spending has nearly tripled since 2019 — from $80 billion to $224 billion. How much of that was the CHIPS Act? Skeptics say not much, pointing to a Fed study showing construction planning surged before CHIPS was enacted. But that gets the timeline wrong. Project planning is cheap relative to project construction. The CHIPS Act had a years-long legislative arc, and firms were positioning themselves well before enactment to create the option for future investment. 66% of the construction boom was concentrated in computer and electronics manufacturing, which was the direct target of CHIPS subsidies. The regions with the biggest CHIPS megaprojects saw the biggest spending surges. Regions with no CHIPS awards saw almost no growth. Even a conservative estimate suggests CHIPS drove $43–150 billion in cumulative construction spending, exceeding what Congress appropriated. New at Factory Settings, by @IrvingSwisher on forensic accounting of industrial policy effects, and why the enactment date is the wrong benchmark for measuring policy impact.