US wants to invest 11 billion dollars in national R&D center for chips
Joe Biden’s administration is building a network of advanced semiconductor R&D facilities. The United States wants to invest a total of $ 11 billion in this R&D ecosystem for chips, to strengthen American “economic and national security”.
The United States Department of Commerce envisions a National Semiconductor Technology Center, or NSTC, consisting of several technical sites across the United States. That is what the ministry writes in a press release and an accompanying vision document. The envisaged R&D center will be set up under the CHIPS for America initiative.
The Department of Commerce will receive an $11 billion budget for the NSTC over five years. That amount is financed through the American chip law, which was introduced last year and releases a total of $ 52.7 billion for the American chip sector, including billions in subsidies for the construction of new chip factories.
The NSTC should start working with academics and partner companies and should be operational by the end of this year, writes Bloomberg. The program aims, among other things, to set up an R&D ecosystem for chips. The US hopes this will promote several things, including “the production of the latest semiconductor technologies” within the US, shortening the time between chip design and commercialization and training employees for the semiconductor sector.
Various parties must come together under the project, including universities, colleges, chip designers, manufacturers and governments. The R&D center will be set up as a public-private consortium in the form of an independent non-profit, which should be seen as neutral and scientifically driven. Exactly where the various locations will be located, in addition to many other details about those research centers, is not yet known. Decisions on this will be made in the coming months. The Commerce Department is seeking nominations for a selection committee later on Wednesday. That committee will ultimately choose a council to set up the center, independent of the ministry.