US wants to invest $11 billion 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 chip R&D ecosystem to strengthen American ‘economic and national security’.
The US Department of Commerce provides a ‘National Semiconductor Technology Center’, or NSTC, which consists of several technical locations within the United States. That’s what the ministry writes in a press release and an accompanying vision document. The proposed R&D center is being set up under the CHIPS for America initiative.
The Ministry of Commerce will have a budget of $11 billion for the NSTC, which will be spread over five years. That amount is financed through the American chip law, which was introduced last year and frees up a total of $52.7 billion for the American chip sector, including billions in subsidies for the construction of new chip factories.
The NSTC must collaborate with academics and partner companies and 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 to promote several things, including ‘the production of the latest semiconductor technologies’ within the US, shortening the time between chip design and commercialization and training workers for the semiconductor sector.
The project requires several parties to come together, including universities, colleges, chip designers, manufacturers and governments. The R&D center is being set up as a public-private consortium in the form of an independent non-profit, which must be seen as neutral and is scientifically driven. It is not yet known where exactly the various locations will be located, along with many other details about those research centers. Decisions will be made on this in the coming months. The Commerce Department will request nominations for a selection committee later on Wednesday. That committee will ultimately choose a council to set up the center, independent of the ministry.