Charles Lyons-Burt
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is authorized to allocate a generous $280 billion to stimulate the semiconductor industry in the U.S. Building on its momentum, agencies across the federal government are initiating efforts to reinforce and magnify developments in the microelectronics field. The Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering as well as the Defense Microelectronics Cross-Functional Team are reportedly hard at work instituting objectives and roadmaps that lay out their goals over the next decade-plus.
Some of the DOD’s major ambitions surrounding microelectronics are to leverage microelectronics innovation and apply it to DOD systems; support microelectronics research and production in a way that strengthens national security; and harness semiconductor technological breakthroughs to ultimately enhance warfighter readiness.
According to Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics at OUSD and director of the DMCFT, another important dimension of the DOD’s perspective on microelectronics is access—to both “leading-edge” and legacy iterations of the technology. Shenoy addressed an audience with a keynote address at ExecutiveBiz’s 2023 Microelectronics Forum on Tuesday.
If your interests lie at the intersection of cutting edge technology and national security, you should attend ExecutiveBiz’s Hypersonics Forum on Aug. 15. Shenoy’s colleague at OUSD R&E, Principal Director of Hypersonics Dr. James Weber will deliver the keynote address and there will be ample opportunity for networking with the speakers and your peers in industry. Register here.
“In the context of the Ukraine war, for example, a timely access to micro products has turned out to be a very critical challenge, motivating programs to modernize and exploit the most capable microelectronics,” Shenoy revealed. He continued, saying that maintaining “guaranteed, long-term access” to microelectronics was key, which is why a push toward moving manufacturing of the product — via fabrication plants, or “fabs” — to American shores is so important.
In terms of geopolitical struggle, Shenoy repeatedly stated in his remarks that the U.S. needs to act swiftly on microelectronics and not fall behind in technological progress in the discipline, lest one of the country’s adversaries seize on a new development faster. All nations on an international scale are able to recognize and draw from essentially the same information and new inventions within microelectronics, Shenoy reasoned, so it’s really about who is able to modernize fastest and most efficiently.
He called on members of private industry — who comprised much of the audience — to assist in this global race for microelectronics dominance. To do so, government and the private sector must combat a starkly declining trend of consolidating and dwindling sources for manufacturing materials.
“DoD requires a multi-vendor, assured, pipeline of critical microelectronics across several generations of technologies in a diminishing global supply chain,” Shenoy’s presentation stated.
The OUSD R&E program head also said his office is working closely with other government agencies like the Departments of State, Agriculture and Energy to mount a “whole of government” approach to microelectronics. Only then can the U.S. hope to achieve its sizable goals in the field, even with the push the CHIPS Act signals.
One more collaborative effort Shenoy is excited about is the Microelectronics Commons. Funded by $400 million over the next five years from the aforementioned legislation, the Commons is a group of participating partners who will aim to usher prototypes from “lab to fab,” moving nascent technologies and new discoveries into the production phase. Pouring money into smaller companies that may not otherwise be able to afford the expensive systems needed to make their research a reality, the Commons is thus intended to effectively “democratize” the process, according to Shenoy, as well as help bridge the infamous ‘valley of death,’ the liminal space unrealized tech can fall into.
