The NSTC is intended to address real-world technical challenges in semiconductor industry and to provide participants with immediate and hands-on knowledge transfer and training.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce has released a paper outlining its vision and strategy for a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), a key component of President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act research and development programme.
Congress appropriated funds to establish a national centre to support and extend the United States’ leadership in semiconductor research, design, engineering, and advanced manufacturing, as well as to strengthen American competitiveness.
The paper, A Vision and Strategy for the National Semiconductor Technology Center, describes how the NSTC will accelerate America’s ability to develop future chips and technologies, ensuring America’s global innovation leadership. The mission, core programmes, and other features of the centre are described in the vision and strategy paper.
In addition to developing and funding research programmes, the NSTC will collaborate with academic and industry partners to establish affiliated technical centres across the country, fostering an unprecedented network of research and innovation in scale, breadth, and focus.
“The NSTC will lay the groundwork for good jobs that will contribute to the growth of the domestic semiconductor workforce.”
The NSTC will be a bold public-private partnership in which government, industry, customers, suppliers, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, and investors will collaborate to innovate, connect, and solve problems,” said Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce. “Most importantly, the NSTC will ensure that the United States leads the way in the next generation of semiconductor technologies, which can enable significant new advances in areas critical to our economic and national security. While the CHIPS Act’s manufacturing incentives will bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, a strong R&D ecosystem led by the NSTC will keep it here.”
The NSTC aims to fulfill the unmet needs of the sector by providing member services such as access to emerging materials and process technologies, digital assets and design tools, a chiplet stockpile, and incubation support.
It also offers opportunities for participation in industry grand challenges, road mapping and standards activities, and workforce training and technical exchange programs.
As outlined in the strategy paper, the NSTC has three high-level goals:
Extend America’s leadership in semiconductor technology: Designing, prototyping, and piloting the latest semiconductor technology in America will provide the foundation for future applications and industries and strengthen the domestic semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.
Reduce the time and cost of moving from design idea to commercialization: The NSTC will use shared facilities and expertise to design, prototype, manufacture, package, and scale semiconductors and related products that will provide critical capabilities to US innovators to advance economic and national security.
Build and sustain a semiconductor workforce development ecosystem: The NSTC will act as a coordinating body and a centre of excellence for scaling the technical workforce, which will include scientists, engineers, and technicians.
The NSTC workforce programmes will help to expand recruiting, training, and retraining for the semiconductor ecosystem, including reaching out to historically under-represented groups.
“The National Semiconductor Technology Center is intended to drive innovation and accelerate the transfer of new technologies to market,” said Laurie E. Locascio, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director.
“This centre will provide the US semiconductor industry with a long-term technological advantage while also assisting in the development of a skilled workforce capable of manufacturing the world’s most advanced devices.”
The NSTC will establish technical centres by expanding and improving research facilities across the country or by building new, advanced facilities, in addition to establishing a centre for research, administration, and operations. On NSTC programmes, inventors and entrepreneurs, start-ups and established businesses, chipmakers, material and equipment suppliers, educators and trainees can all collaborate.
The NSTC is intended to address real-world technical challenges in the semiconductor industry and to provide participants with immediate and hands-on knowledge transfer and training.
Extensive stakeholder feedback revealed that the NSTC must address a wide range of issues for a wide range of stakeholders. It is critical that the NSTC is viewed as neutral, trustworthy, and science-driven throughout the ecosystem.
The NSTC will be established by the Secretary of Commerce, in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense, through the formation of a public-private consortium, as required by the Act. Nonprofit organisations frequently manage federal consortia.
The Department expects to establish a new, purpose-built, independent, nonprofit entity with the necessary neutrality, expertise, leadership, and capacity to serve as the NSTC consortium’s operator.