SIA Applauds New DoD Research Partnerships to Advance Transformative Semiconductor Technologies

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, welcomed newly announced research partnerships between the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and research teams from industry and academia that aim to bolster long-term semiconductor research. The research partnerships, part of new programs within DARPA’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI), will target advances in semiconductor circuit design, materials, and systems architectures. The selected research teams were unveiled yesterday in San Francisco during the first annual DARPA ERI Summit, a three-day event bringing together hundreds of members of the microelectronics community.

“As the brains of modern electronics, semiconductors are central to America’s economy, national security, and global competitiveness,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “The DARPA research partnerships announced yesterday will help catalyze transformational advances in semiconductor technology and enhance semiconductors’ positive impacts on our country.”

The ERI is divided into three main research thrust areas—Design, Materials & Integration, and Architectures. Each thrust area will feature two new research programs. The Design research thrust area will include the Intelligent Design of Electronic Assets (IDEA) program and the Posh Open Source Hardware (POSH) program. The Materials & Integration research thrust area will include the Three-Dimensional Monolithic System-on-a-Chip (3DSoC) program and the Foundations Required for Novel Compute (FRANC) program. The ERI Architectures research thrust area will include the Software Defined Hardware (SDH) program and the Domain-specific System on Chip (DSSoC) program.

“The semiconductor industry plows about one-fifth of its revenues into R&D—among the highest shares of any sector—and has a long record of partnering with our government to advance early-stage research,” Neuffer said. “The new DARPA research partnerships mark a major commitment to furthering semiconductor technology and keeping America at the tip of the spear globally in semiconductor innovation.”

Neuffer also noted SIA’s longstanding support for basic scientific research funded through other federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. He expressed the semiconductor industry’s eagerness to work with the Administration and Congress to advance research investments that will promote America’s economic and national security and technological leadership.

In total, the ERI will invest upwards of $1.5 billion over five years to jumpstart innovation in the electronics industry. In addition to fostering advancements in semiconductor technologies used for national security, the ripple effect from this research will be felt across the full range of semiconductor applications: communications, computing, health care, transportation, clean energy, and countless others.

About SIA

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, one of America's top export industries and a key driver of America’s economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors—microchips that control all modern electronics—enable the systems and products we use to work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, treat illness, and make new scientific discoveries. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the U.S. In 2017, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $189 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion-dollar electronics industry possible. SIA seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership of semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research by working with Congress, the Administration and other key industry stakeholders to encourage policies and regulations that fuel innovation, propel business and drive international competition. Learn more here.