Defense makes $238M CHIPS and Science Act awards for eight microelectronics regional innovation hubs

The Department of Defense announced yesterday that it issued $238 million from "Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act" funding for the establishment of eight Microelectronics Commons (Commons) regional innovation hubs. With $2 billion in funding for Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027, the Microelectronics Commons program aims to leverage these hubs to accelerate domestic hardware prototyping and "lab-to-fab" transition of semiconductor technologies. The hope is this will help mitigate supply chain risks and ultimately expedite access to the most cutting-edge microchips for U.S. troops.

The eight awardees are:

1. Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) Hub

Awardee (Hub Lead): The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech)

Hub Lead State: Massachusetts

FY23 Award:  $19.7 M

90 Hub Members

2. Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub

Awardee: The Applied Research Institute (ARI)

Hub Lead State: Indiana

FY23 Award:  $32.9 M

130 Hub Members

3. California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (California DREAMS) Hub

Awardee:  The University of Southern California (USC)

Hub Lead State: California

FY23 Award:  $26.9 M

16 Hub members

4. Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (CLAWS) Hub

Awardee:  North Carolina State University (NCSU)

Hub Lead State: North Carolina

FY23 Award:  $39.4 M

7 Hub members

5. Southwest Advanced Prototyping (SWAP) Hub

Awardee:  Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University

Hub Lead State: Arizona

FY23 Award:  $39.8 M

27 Hub members

6. Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) Hub

Awardee:  MMEC

Hub Lead State: Ohio

FY23 Award:  $24.3 M

65 Hub members

7. Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub (NORDTECH)

Awardee:  The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY)

Hub Lead State: New York

FY23 Award:  $40.0 M

51 Hub members

8. California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Hub (Northwest-AI Hub)

Awardee:  The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Hub Lead State: California

FY23 Award:  $15.3 M

44 Hub members

In all, over 360 organizations from over 30 states will be participating in the Commons.

Six technology areas critical to the DoD mission were selected as focus areas for the Commons. Each Hub will be advancing U.S. technology leadership in one or more of these areas:

Secure Edge/Internet of Things (IoT) Computing

5G/6G

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hardware

Quantum Technology

Electromagnetic Warfare

Commercial Leap Ahead Technologies

The Microelectronics Commons program has been spearheaded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in conjunction with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, and the National Security Technology Accelerator.

The Microelectronics Commons program will soon move into the project stage. At this stage, organizations—including those that were not selected for Hubs in the current announcement—can work with the Hubs to tackle key challenges. Learn more at https://microelectronicscommons.org/.