The Pentagon’s Microelectronics Commons (ME Commons) initiative has received a fresh $160 million injection of funding from the CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Nov. 8.
The new funding for ME Commons follows the $269 million it received in September.
Most of the new funding – $148 million – will directly go to the eight established Microelectronics Commons Hubs which focus on building infrastructure, supporting operations, and accelerating workforce developments.
An additional $10 million will support a Cross-Hub Enablement Solution (CHES) which aims to enhance shared access to critical electronic design automation tools and cloud computing resources.
“Semiconductors are key to the must-win technologies of the future for next generation weapons systems, including artificial intelligence and 5G,” said Dev Shenoy, principal director of microelectronics at DoD. “These technologies will be essential to achieving the goal of a dynamic, inclusive, and innovative national economy identified as a critical American advantage,” he said.
The eight hubs that the funding will go to include:
- The Northeast Microelectronics Coalition Hub, led by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in Mass., was awarded $18.7 million.
- The Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, led by the Applied Research Institute in Ind., was awarded $16.6 million.
- The California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub Hub, led by the University of Southern California in Calif., was awarded $27 million.
- The Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors Hub, led by the North Carolina State University in N.C., was awarded $23.7 million.
- The Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub, led by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University in Ariz., was awarded $18.7 million.
- The Midwest Microelectronics Consortium Hub in Ohio, was awarded $12.3 million.
- The Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub, led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York, was awarded $10.6 million.
- The California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Hub, led by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University in Calif., was awarded $15.3 million.
Technical projects that the new funding will focus on include quantum, secure edge computing, 5G and 6G wireless, electromagnetic warfare, artificial intelligence, and the CHES.
“America’s military systems are the most capable in the world, and that would not be possible without advanced semiconductor technology,” Arati Prabhakar, President Biden’s chief advisor for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement. “Thanks to President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, we’re making the semiconductor innovation investments today that will bolster global security tomorrow.”
The ME Commons was established in 2023 after DoD received $2 billion in funding for the effort, which is a national network of academic institutions, small businesses, and research entities that work to advance microelectronics technology in the commercialization process.
