The Department of Defense has added $160 million to the funding for its Microelectronics Commons program implementing the CHIPS and Science Act. Most of the investment — $148 million — has been allocated to the eight universities and research institutions earlier selected as part of the department-supported Microelectronics Commons Hubs, the DOD said Friday.
The hubs, which secured a $238 million total award in their initial launch in September 2023, are focused on building infrastructure, operations support and workforce development, the department added.
New Funding Breakdown
The hubs and their new funding awards are as follows:
- California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub led by the University of Southern California — $27 million
- Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors Hub led by the North Carolina State University — $23.7 million
- The Northeast Microelectronics Coalition Hub led by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative — $18.7 million
- Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub led by the Arizona board of regents on behalf of Arizona State University — $18.7 million
- Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub led by the Applied Research Institute in Indiana — $16.6 million.
- California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Hub led by the board of trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University in California — $15.3 million
- Midwest Microelectronics Consortium Hub in Ohio — $12.3 million
- Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York — $10.6 million
The DOD is also adding $10 million for a cross-hub enablement solution to enhance the sharing of vital electronic design automation and cloud computing tools.
