U.S. wants to invest $ 11 billion in national chip R&D center

Joe Biden administration is working on a network of advanced semiconductor r&D facilities. The United States wants to invest a total of 11 billion dollars in this r&D ecosystem for chips, to strengthen American “economic and national security”.

The U.S. Department of Commerce provides a “National Semiconductor Technology Center,” or NSTC, which consists of several technical sites within the United States. That is what the Ministry writes in a press release and a corresponding vision document. The intended R&D center is being set up under the CHIPS for America initiative.

The Department of Commerce is given an $ 11 billion budget for the NSTC, to be spread over five years. That amount is financed through the US chip law, which was introduced last year and frees up a total of $ 52.7 billion for the US chip sector, which also includes billion-dollar 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 establish an R&D ecosystem for chips. The U.S. hopes to promote several causes, including “the production of the latest semiconductor technologies” within the U.S., reducing the time between chip design and commercialization, and training workers for the semiconductor industry.

Under the project, various parties should come together, including universities, colleges, chip designers, manufacturers and governments. The R & D center is 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 different locations will be located, in addition to many other details about those research centers, is not yet known. Decisions will be made on this in the coming months. The Department of Commerce will ask for nominations for a selection committee later on Wednesday. That committee will eventually elect a council to establish the center, independent of the ministry.