The Department of Defense is launching a program that seeks to facilitate sustained partnerships between manufacturing facilities, emerging technology sources and interagency partners and build up a talent pipeline to support the growth of the domestic semiconductor workforce and local economies.
The Microelectronics Commons initiative will receive funding through the CHIPS and Science Act and establish a network of regional technology hubs to enable industry leaders to guide DOD’s microelectronics development efforts, the Pentagon said Friday.
According to the National Security Technology Accelerator, each regional hub will focus on one or more of the six tech areas: secure edge/internet of things computing; quantum technology; 5G/6G technology; electronic warfare; artificial intelligence hardware; and commercial leap ahead technologies.
“The effort to establish the Microelectronics Commons is the culmination of years of effort at DoD,” said David Honey, deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
“The funding provided by the CHIPS Act will put us on a path to faster lab-to-fab production and strengthen American microelectronics development and production capacity,” Honey added.
NSTXL will host a webinar on Nov. 9 and an industry day on Dec. 7 and 8 in the Washington, D.C. area to provide information on the initiative.
