NSF builds semiconductor workforce through concurrent Micron and Intel partnerships

In an effort to alleviate the nationwide shortage of semiconductors, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two cross-sector partnerships, one with Intel Corp. and the other partnership with Micron Technology, Inc. NSF plans to invest $10 million in combination with the companies from each partnership in support of research, education, infrastructure building, and workforce development for semiconductor design and manufacturing.

The Intel announcement is one part of a previously announced 10-year collaboration between NSF and Intel that will, over time, invest $100 million to address semiconductor design and manufacturing challenges and workforce shortages around the country.

NSF and Micron will each invest $5 million to fund rigorous and engaging instructional material, teacher professional development, and experiential opportunities for students to improve education at higher education institutions, whether it be a two-year college or four-year university, including minority serving institutions.

Awards made through this partnership are meant to expand the US’s production capacity in semiconductors, which has been complicated by the global pandemic making it difficult for the chip industry to meet the increasing demand for chip-based products. And while that demand is high in the U.S., only about 10% of the global supply of chips is produced nationally.