A bipartisan group of governors from nine states sent a letter on Wednesday to U.S. lawmakers urging them to pass subsidies for semiconductor factories that would produce chips for cars. The governors, who include Michigan Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, called on Congress to pass the $52 billion CHIPS Act, which would set aside $2 billion for the kind of older-technology chips of which there is a deep shortage in the automotive industry. The group, which also includes the governors of auto-producing states like Alabama, said the shortage had cost automakers 2.2 million vehicles and affected 575,000 jobs in the industry. “The global auto chip shortage has hit Michigan and states across the country hard, idling plants and slowing production, threatening thousands of auto-related jobs up and down the supply chain,” Whitmer said in a statement. “With no end in sight, it’s clear we have no time to lose if we’re going …