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Defense Speak Interpreted: Is DARPA Still Around After CHIPS?

When I first published my Defense Speaks Interpreted column in January 2019 on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA ERI), the agency advocated for an expanded Defense emphasis on closing the growing technology gap in microelectronics. The emphasis was on “resurgence.” The following image is a repeat of the chart that accompanied my original column.

So, what has changed and what has missed the mark?

• The first mention of “chiplets,” those thin slivers of silicon wafer that could be stitched together to make a semiconductor system, was likely in 2019.
• Who knew that “CHIPS” would be the acronym for the 2022 semiconductor stimulus act passed by Congress?
• There was no mention of the Department of Commerce, which would administer the CHIPS Act, rather than Defense alone.  
• Big name defense contractors were listed, but some entities have not grown, including Jariet (fabless semiconductors), Intrinsix (acquired by Cadence in 2023), and one relative status quo, HRL.

What does DARPA look like today? How is it involved in electronics technology? DARPA is not solely focused on electronics. It has six technical offices¹:

1. Defense Sciences Office (DSO): Current DSO themes include novel materials and structures, sensing and measurement, computation and processing, enabling operations, collective intelligence, and global change
2. Information Innovation Office (I2O): Information can provide a decisive military advantage
3. Microsystems Technology Office (MTO): High-performance, intelligent microsystems to ensure U.S. dominance in Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Electronic Warfare (EW), and Directed Energy (DE). (Learn more here: Defense Speak Interpreted: What in the World Is MINSEC?)
4. Strategic Technology Office (STO): Its mission is to focus on technologies that have a global theater-wide impact and that involve multiple Services. 
5. Tactical Technology Office (TTO): Engages in high-risk, high-payoff advanced military research, emphasizing the "system" and "subsystem" approach
6. Biological Technologies Office (BTO): Integrates biology, engineering, and computer science for national security. 

However, the CHIPS Act has impacted DARPA's work in microelectronics. The CHIPS Act provides funding for programs like the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and the Department of Defense's Microelectronics Commons, with which DARPA collaborates². 

• DARPA's work in areas like the Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing (NGMM) program, which focuses on 3DHI (3-Dimensional Heterogeneous Integration) technology, benefits from the CHIPS Act's funding and the resulting collaborations with other entities. 
• The CHIPS Act has also increased DARPA's engagement with the National Semiconductor Technology Center and industry partners, leading to more collaborations and discussions. 

 DARPA's NGMM Program:

• DARPA's NGMM program aims to create a self-sustaining 3DHI manufacturing center accessible to academia, government, and industry. 

The University of Texas at Austin has been granted oversight of the NGMM program along with the Texas Institute for Electronics. There is a singular NGMM focus: the 3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI) of electronics (See Figure 1). NGMM at Austin is now about 12 months into a 30-month program to set up and equip the Center. Phase 2 will focus on building 3D prototypes and advancing electronics packaging technology in the United States.   

Now, will DARPA be affected by Trump, Musk, and budgets? While the issue is not totally settled, as Congress must finalize the budgets, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration appointed Steve Winchell as the DARPA Director on May 9. Winchell comes to DARPA is a Naval Academy graduate with extensive experience in other scientific areas of the Defense Department. He is still a reserve officer in the Navy. Winchell and DARPA report through the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, who the U.S. Senate confirmed on May 14, 2025. The FY 25 budget for DARPA is just below $4.4 billion. So far, the FY 2026 budget proposal for DARPA is $4.5 billion.    

So, DARPA is alive and well, focused on an electronics mission similar to CHIPS, but involved in many other R&D activities besides electronics. It would take another column to explain how DARPA was instrumental in helping rush the Moderna COVID vaccine to the public in 2020.

References

1. DARPA, Wikipedia.com.
2. NGMM: Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing, darpa.mil.

Denny Fritz was a 20-year direct employee of MacDermid Inc., and retired after 12 years at SAIC, Inc., as a senior engineer supporting the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana.