The US Department of Commerce and NIST announced on Thursday a $6.3 billion award to Natcast to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center, designed as an enduring public-private institution to extend US leadership in chip technology.
Of the $52 billion in the CHIPS and Science Act signed by outgoing President Biden in 2022, $11 billion was designated for semiconductor R&D in four programs including the NSTC. “A robust research and development ecosystems is essential to ensuring the US is a global leader in semiconductor innovation,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
The award follows a separate announcement that CHIPS National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program awarded Natcast $1.1 billion for advanced packaging activities at the NTSC Prototyping and NAPMP Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility. It is expected to be located at Arizona State University Research Park in Tempe, Arizona.
The NSTC strategic plan released in October calls for Natcast to invest in R&D, workforce development, an investment fund, the Design Enablement Gateway, silicon aggregation services, technical center and to operate CHIPS for America R&D flagship facilities for NSTC.
One goal of the NSTC is to reduce the time and cost to prototype innovative chip designs. A full strategic plan is online.
Over 100 members have joined NSTC.
CHIPS for America lists more than $36 billion in funding on an interactive map.
In his farewell address, President Biden mentioned the success of the CHIPS Act, a bipartisan effort to spur domestic manufacturing of chips. Incoming President Trump, who will be inaugurated Monday, has called the act “so bad” but it isn’t clear how he would change any of the awards already granted, if that’s even possible. Many analysts believe Trump won’t make significant changes.
The address also included Biden’s concerns abouts the potential rise of a “tech-industry complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.” Another concern is an oligarchy of ultra-weathy taking root in the country, he said.