U.S. CHIPS Act Outlines $500 Million Fund for Research Institutes & Packaging Tech Development

[T0@st]

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce publicly announced two new notices of intent—as reported by Tom's Hardware, this involves the latest distributions from the CHIPS Act's $11 billion R&D budget: "$300 million is to be made available across multiple awards of up to $100 million (not including voluntary co-investment) for research on advanced packaging, while another $200 million (or more) is set aside to create the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute. Companies will have to compete for the funds by filing an application." The Act's primary $39 billion tranche is designated to new construction endeavors, e.g. the founding of manufacturing facilities.

A grand total of $52 billion was set aside for the CHIPS Act in 2022, which immediately attracted the attention of several semiconductor industry giants. Companies with headquarters outside of North America were allowed to send in applications. Last year, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, made some controversial statements regarding his company's worthiness of government funding. In his opinion, Team Blue is due the "lion's share" due to his operation being a USA firm—the likes of TSMC and Samsung are far less deserving of subsidies.




The Department of Commerce is expected to start its competition for advanced packaging awards around March time, while the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute competition is scheduled to kick off at some point before the end of June. Tom's Hardware managed to make contact with a government policy expert—their statement explained "that these notices, though not a legal commitment, exist to give potential applicants time to prepare to apply. This is especially important for the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute competition, which envisions partnerships applying instead of individual organizations. These partnerships won't just include private corporations but also academic institutions, federal labs, and local- to state-level government per the notice of intent. That's consistent with other Manufacturing USA institutions, so there are no big surprises."

One manufacturing USA institute will be created, despite CHIPS Act terms outlining the creation of three establishments. The Department of Commerce policy expert believes that $200 million is better spent on a single operation—the alternative scenario being three smaller institutes having to survive on $75 million a piece: "Additionally, the sole CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute can enjoy the advantages of centralization, making its semiconductor simulation models much better." The Tom's Hardware contact also proposed that additional competitions are due for announcement later on in 2024.

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[Daven]

Too bad the money doesn’t include a growth requirement. Intel’s business has been shrinking so the money could be wasted on making Intel products that no one wants.

FYI Intel is still IFS’s biggest customer so even though this money is earmarked for manufacturing, any IFS capacity and capability increases will go to making Intel products.

 

[bonehead123]

Bureaucracy/red tape at it's finest..... reminds me of a saying I saw somewhere.... "I'm from the Gov't, I'm here to help"

It's been 2 years since the CHIPS act was enacted, and we still don't have a single new chip fab even close to being up & running yet, and probably won't for at least 2-3 more years even if all the issues at Intel & TSMC are resolved soon.....

Yea, a great way to regain our leadership in the tech sector

 

[onemanhitsquad]

advanced packaging...like a new type of plastic package that you need scissors to open?

"research scientist"...that's another term for bum

 

[the54thvoid]

It's been 2 years since the CHIPS act was enacted, and we still don't have a single new chip fab even close to being up & running yet, and probably won't for at least 2-3 more years even if all the issues at Intel & TSMC are resolved soon.....

It's a longer game than that. You don't just build a big old warehouse and start making shit. A lot of people seem to think the solutions are all really easy. The hard part for almost any governemnt is investing in a process that might outlive their own tenure. It's a blessing that your gov is willing to do just that. In many other places, short term rewards are used at the expense of long term growth because people have become more and more stupid. I'm all for governments making long term decisions which will benefit the country that will outlive any one individual leader.

 

[thesmokingman]

US politicians think they can just throw money at it, tax payers money at that, lol.

 

[Kohl Baas]

It's a longer game than that. You don't just build a big old warehouse and start making shit. A lot of people seem to think the solutions are all really easy. The hard part for almost any governemnt is investing in a process that might outlive their own tenure. It's a blessing that your gov is willing to do just that. In many other places, short term rewards are used at the expense of long term growth because people have become more and more stupid. I'm all for governments making long term decisions which will benefit the country that will outlive any one individual leader.

A scientifical fortune teller -to put it as simple as possible- in my country said that by his POV the biggest problem with the westers civilisation is that we lost our capacity to bouild cathedrals. Projects that are so long that the people who see the start of it will know no relative of them in their lifetime who will see it finished. Our sast paced life and the form of governing make these projects impossible.

 

[the54thvoid]

I've deleted some politically charged posts. I did it because they were partisan and also misinformed. One of the most frequent complaints about these deals is that jobs went overseas because of a specific party. Free trade allowed these things to happen, one of the purposes of the WTO. The WTO itself was signed into existence in the mid 90's. However, it was initially begun as the Uruguay Round of talks in the 80's, as the dream of another president. Whether you agree with it or not, isn't the point of discussion - the development of US chip infrastructure is.

Keep it neutral (and informed). Further ideologically charged posts will receive points.

 

[fibre]

Too bad the money doesn’t include a growth requirement. Intel’s business has been shrinking so the money could be wasted on making Intel products that no one wants.

FYI Intel is still IFS’s biggest customer so even though this money is earmarked for manufacturing, any IFS capacity and capability increases will go to making Intel products.

perhaps this time they will succeed with IFS 2 and attract more customers, not like for the last 10 years or so

 

[onemanhitsquad]

A scientifical fortune teller -to put it as simple as possible- in my country said that by his POV the biggest problem with the westers civilisation is that we lost our capacity to bouild cathedrals. Projects that are so long that the people who see the start of it will know no relative of them in their lifetime who will see it finished. Our sast paced life and the form of governing make these projects impossible.

"scientific fortune teller"...hahahaha...a talker , not a doer

 

[Kohl Baas]

"scientific fortune teller"...hahahaha...a talker , not a doer

Trend-researcher to be more accurate. Figuring out for big companies what will be 5-10-20 years from now so they can prepare for it.

 

[onemanhitsquad]

Trend-researcher to be more accurate. Figuring out for big companies what will be 5-10-20 years from now so they can prepare for it.

like Nostradamus?...one little advancement from a doer and all of that predicting can go the way of the dodo...might be a fun job though

 

[Kohl Baas]

like Nostradamus?...one little advancement from a doer and all of that predicting can go the way of the dodo...might be a fun job though

More like Jon Peddie Research and such.

 

[SetsunaFZero]

recently the US and EU are starting to throw money at everything, this is a good sign.

 

[onemanhitsquad]

recently the US and EU are starting to throw money at everything, this is a good sign.

money we don't have