The CHIPS Act represents the most significant federal investment ever made in the U.S. semiconductor industry, including a substantial $13 billion investment over 5 years in chip research and development (R&D) programs between the Department of Commerce ($11 billion) and the Department of Defense ($2 billion). The Programs include:
SIA will track the progress of each program below, and more information is available at CHIPS.gov.
October 28-30: NSTC Symposium and Microelectronics Commons Annual Meeting – Register Here
CHIPS R&D funds will be allocated over multiple years and will be used to sustain various initiatives and programs, operate facilities, support funding opportunities, conduct research projects, promote workforce development, and more.
The CHIPS NSTC Program Office, led by Director Dr. Jay Lewis, is leading the creation of key elements of the NSTC. The NSTC is funded by CHIPS for America and operated by Natcast, led by CEO Deirdre Hanford. The CHIPS NSTC Program Office and Natcast are working collaboratively initiate the first activities of the NSTC, which will include jumpstart R&D projects and activities of a Workforce Center of Excellence.
This summer and fall, Natcast will launch its first "jumpstart projects," which will include at least $100 million in funding, are high impact with a quick turnaround, have broad ecosystem engagement, and do not require new capabilities/infrastructure. The projects include:
NSTC Workforce Partner Alliance (WFPA) Program - webpage and call for proposals
The WFPA will focus on “closing workforce and skills gaps in the U.S. for researchers, engineers, and technicians across semiconductor design, manufacturing, and production.” Natcast is seeking to fund projects for “established programs with a track record of success seeking to scale; growing programs seeking to expand or realign; or new programs that meet a previously unaddressed need, opportunity, or theory of change.”
Led by NAPMP Director Dr. Dev Palmer, the NAPMP program is moving forward on its first funding award, and will continue to initiate programs, potentially in coordination with the NSTC.
Funding Opportunity #1 - Materials & Substrates
The first NOFO is for R&D in materials and substrates, where the NAPMP will award ~$300 million in amounts up to ~$100 million per award for up to 5 years.
The NAPMP issued a notice of intent (NOI) for a $1.6 billion competition for the remaining 5 R&D priorities. Each award will be for up to $150 million with an award term of 5 years. The R&D focus areas are:
The full NOFO will be released in the fall. The NOI states that the technical focus areas are in keeping with industry-driven technology roadmaps that highlight the importance of emerging applications such as high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (including low-power systems).
Led by Director Dr. Marla Dowell, the CHIPS Metrology Program has ongoing research activities and is leading NIST semiconductor and microelectronics metrology efforts centered around 7 grand challenges.
The CHIPS Metrology Community will be the go-to destination for industry to work collaboratively on and develop solutions to metrology problems shared across industry. Specifically, the goals of the Community include:
CHIPS Metrology Grand Challenges
Led by Director Dr. Eric Forsythe, CRDO launched a NOFO for up to $285 million the establishment of a Manufacturing USA Institute focused on digital twins for the semiconductor industry. Digital twins are virtual models that mimic the structure, context, and behavior of a physical counterpart. Concept papers were due June 20, with invited full applications due Sept. 9.
The objectives of the Institute include:
The ME Commons awarded $269 million to 33 projects in 27 states. Additional information about the projects is forthcoming, with preliminary detail below
The goal of the Microelectronics Commons programs is to address the "valley of death" and facilitate the lab-to-fab transition for microelectronics research with defense applications. The ME Commons is led by Dr. Dev Shenoy at DOD and Stephanie Lin at NSTXL.
