Sharjah 24 – AFP: US President Joe Biden unveiled almost $20 billion in grants and loans Wednesday for Intel's domestic chip-making plants -- his administration's biggest investment yet in the sector as he takes on China's chip dominance and sells his economic achievements over election rival Donald Trump.

Biden's decision to make the announcement during a trip to Arizona underscores his strategy of highlighting legislative achievements in key battleground states ahead of November's presidential rematch against Republican Trump.

"Unlike my predecessor, I was determined to turn things around to invest in America -- all-American, all Americans. And that's what we've been doing," Biden said in a speech at the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona.

Biden said the investment in Intel facilities in four states -- Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon -- would put the United States on track to manufacture 20 percent of the world's leading-edge chips by the end of the decade.

He then took a further dig at Trump, saying that "my predecessor would let the future rebuild in China and other countries, not America, because it may be cheaper."

Arizona, in the southwestern United States, was one of the tightest races of 2020, with Biden winning by just 10,457 votes -- and the president will likely need to win it again in 2024.

The Democrat, 81, faces a tough reelection fight as he seeks to convince voters still skeptical about his economic record, despite strong recent growth and job creation data, persistently low unemployment, and slowing inflation.

The White House said the deal with Intel would provide up to $8.5 billion in direct funding along with $11 billion in loans under the CHIPS and Science Act.