SIA Applauds CHIPS Award for Semiconductor Research Corporation’s SMART USA Institute

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the following statement from SIA President and CEO John Neuffer commending the announcement that the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Manufacturing Consortium Corporation (SRC) are entering negotiations for the Commerce Department to provide SRC $285 million to establish and operate the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute for Digital Twins.

With combined (federal and non-federal) funding totaling $1 billion, this investment will support a first-of-its-kind Manufacturing USA semiconductor digital twin institute that will develop digital innovation tools to accelerate domestic semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly, and test processes.

“The selection of SRC to establish and operate the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute for Digital Twins marks a big step forward for U.S. semiconductor innovation and for America’s global technology leadership. SRC is a longtime SIA partner and has a demonstrated history of supporting transformational research across the semiconductor ecosystem. It has earned the trust of influential players in the research and industry communities.

“We applaud the Commerce Department and SRC for partnering on this critical initiative and have every confidence the new institute will make lasting and meaningful contributions to the advancement of U.S. chip production and innovation.”

The mission of SMART USA is to foster a collaborative ecosystem within the domestic semiconductor industry enabled by shared facilities; support industry-led solutions through funded research projects; accelerate technology towards commercialization through significant co-investment; and enable digital twin workforce training.

SMART USA will join an existing network of 17 institutes designed to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and promote a robust R&D infrastructure.