White House opens $1.6 billion funding competition for advanced chip packaging R&D – The Business Journals
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The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on Tuesday it plans to invest $1.6 billion in funding to support research and development for advanced semiconductor packaging proposals.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is launching a federal funding competition for research and development related to semiconductor chip advanced packaging.
The Department of Commerce plans to invest $1.6 billion in project proposals across five areas of research and development: equipment, tools, processes and process integration; power delivery and thermal management; connector technology; chiplets ecosystem and co-design/electronic design automation.
Through potential cooperative agreements, the Department of Commerce will allocate several awards of up to $150 million in each research area to leverage private sector investments from industry and academia, according to a news release.
“This announcement is just the most recent example of our commitment to investing in cutting edge R&D that is critical to creating quality jobs in the U.S. and making our country a leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.” Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, said in a statement.
In addition to the R&D areas, the Department of Commerce is expected to include a funding opportunity for prototype development in high-performance computing and low-power systems for artificial intelligence.
The competition is intended to spur research and development activities to accelerate domestic semiconductor advanced packaging as outlined in CHIPS for America’s National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program.
Advanced packaging allows manufacturers to improve system performance and shorten time to market as emerging AI applications are “pushing the boundaries” of current technologies, such as high-performance computing and low power electronics, according to the Department of Commerce.
“The National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program will enable a packaging sector within the United States that outpaces the world through innovation driven by robust R&D,” Laurie Locascio, NIST director and under secretary of commerce for standards and technology, said in a statement.
“Within a decade, through R&D funded by CHIPS for America, we will create a domestic packaging industry where advanced node chips manufactured in the U.S. and abroad can be packaged within the United States and where innovative designs and architectures are enabled through leading-edge packaging capabilities,” Locascio continued.
The Department of Commerce said it would offer more details about the funding opportunity during a future online webinar on the chips.gov website.
The CHIPS and Science Act has earmarked more than $52 billion toward revitalizing the nation’s semiconductor industry.
Economic development officials highlighted Arizona’s burgeoning semiconductor industry at the annual SEMICON West conference, held July 9-11 in San Francisco.
Sandra Watson, president and CEO of Arizona Commerce Authority, was a keynote speaker at the conference on Tuesday, highlighting Arizona’s semiconductor industry and workforce investments. The ACA has invested $100 million in Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona to strengthen semiconductor infrastructure and workforce development.
Since 2020, Arizona had more than 40 semiconductor company expansions, representing more than $102 billion in capital investment and 15,700 jobs.
In April, the U.S. Department of Commerce entered a nonbinding preliminary agreement with TSMC (NYSE: TSM) for a CHIPS Act award package that consists of $6.6 billion in grants, up to $5 billion in loans plus potential tax credits that would bring the total federal commitment to the chipmaker to more than $27 billion, the Business Journal previously reported.
Intel Corp. also received a huge chunk of CHIPS Act funding earlier this year to support construction of new fabs at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, while Amkor Technology Inc. plans to build a $2 billion semiconductor packaging and testing plant in Peoria.
To highlight Arizona’s semiconductor industry growth, SEMICON West is headed to Phoenix in 2025, marking the first time in 50 years the conference will be held outside of San Francisco.
California-based electronics industry design and supply chain association SEMI Americas is relocating the conference to Phoenix for a five-year alternating rotation, beginning Oct. 7-9, 2025 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Arizona will host the event again in 2027 and 2029.
SEMI represents more than 3,000 companies and 1.5 million electronics design and supply chain professionals worldwide.
“With nation-leading investments from the world’s most advanced companies, Arizona has become the epicenter of America’s semiconductor resurgence,” Sandra Watson, president and CEO, Arizona Commerce Authority, said in a statement. “Our leadership was featured front and center at SEMICON West … We were proud to have more than 10 local partners join us at SEMICON West to make this conference a huge success.”
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