SIA Commends Appointment of Deirdre Hanford as CEO of NSTC Operator Natcast

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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the following statement from SIA President and CEO John Neuffer applauding the appointment of industry veteran Deirdre Hanford as CEO of the National Center for the Advancement of Semiconductor Technology (Natcast), the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) consortium. The NSTC is a critically important entity established by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to promote U.S. semiconductor research and development.

“As a leading expert on semiconductor technology and a highly respected industry veteran, Deirdre is enormously qualified to fill this critical role and chart a path forward for the NSTC. I have worked with Deirdre for years and can say her outstanding contributions to our industry, her strong sense of mission, and her fierce determination to achieve ambitious results position her ideally for success as the first Natcast CEO. The stakes are high and the challenges are great, but Deirdre is the right person for the job and the right leader at the right moment to fulfill the promise of this hugely important undertaking for America and the world. We look forward to working with Deirdre and the leadership team she develops to help ensure the NSTC delivers transformative advancements in chip technology for years to come.”

Semiconductor R&D fuels America’s economic growth, national security, and technological competitiveness. The NSTC and Natcast were established to invigorate semiconductor innovation in the U.S. and drive workforce development opportunities to meet the needs of our rapidly growing industry. Hanford currently serves as chief security officer at Synopsys and has served as an inaugural member of the Industrial Advisory Committee that advises the Department of Commerce on microelectronics programs. The NSTC’s board of trustees, which selected Hanford, was announced in October.

SIA and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in October 2022 released a report identifying five key areas of the semiconductor R&D ecosystem that should be strengthened by the CHIPS Act’s R&D funding. The report, titled “American Semiconductor Research: Leadership Through Innovation,” highlights the importance of government-industry collaboration on the NSTC and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). The study also calls for CHIPS funding to be used to bridge key gaps in the current semiconductor R&D ecosystem to help pave the way for sustained U.S. chip innovation leadership.

The CHIPS Act’s manufacturing incentives have already sparked substantial investments in the U.S.  In fact, companies in the semiconductor ecosystem have announced dozens of new projects across America—totaling more than $210 billion in private investments—since the CHIPS Act was introduced. These announced projects will create more than 40,000 jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem and support hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs throughout this economy.