The Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday the first set of awards under the CHIPS Act totaling nearly $240 million to build eight regional innovation hubs through its Microelectronics Commons initiative. MITRE and its tech foundation MITRE Engenuity have been strong proponents of the U.S. government’s efforts to strengthen the domestic semiconductor industry and establish the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) through the CHIPS Act.

The Microelectronics Commons, a key component of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, aims to facilitate a robust pipeline to deliver new, world-leading microelectronics and accelerate the “lab-to-fab” transition. MITRE is a founding member of the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) Hub, which received one of the award grants. The NEMC Hub lead is The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech).

According to Laurie Giandomenico, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Acceleration Officer, MITRE, “As a founding member of the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition, MITRE is proud to collaborate with leading manufacturers of semiconductor technologies, defense contractors, critical suppliers of semiconductor equipment and materials, and our world-class local universities to jointly develop whole-of-nation microelectronics solutions. Our regional strengths form an ideal foundation for advancing key elements of the nation’s microelectronics strategy to help ensure that American innovation truly leads to American growth.”

Charles Clancy, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, General Manager, MITRE Labs, and Chief Futurist, MITRE, stated, “New England has a long history of defense semiconductor expertise that uniquely spans industry, academia, and nonprofit research organizations. As a founding member of the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition, we believe that richness of our regional ecosystem and concentration of talent and resources position us to be valuable contributors towards advancing national security and semiconductor innovation.”

According to Douglas Robbins, Vice President, Engineering and Prototyping, MITRE, “The Northeast is a powerhouse in semiconductors from research to development to solutions. This award is a recognition of the commitment and meaningful collaboration from regional leaders in industry, academia, and government to advancing defense and semiconductor innovation that will benefit our workforce, economy, and national security.”

The awards are just one piece of the CHIPS Act. The DoD will host its first Microelectronics Commons Annual Meeting where officials will hear directly from the tech hubs on October 17-18, 2023 in Washington DC. Learn more at https://microelectronicscommons.org/.

About the Mass. Center for Advanced Manufacturing at MassTech:

The mission of the Massachusetts Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) is to foster the most complete, collaborative and agile manufacturing ecosystem, to enable business growth from innovation through production. The CAM is a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech), a public economic development agency tasked with supporting business formation and growth in the Commonwealth’s tech and innovation sectors. CAM provides a path for manufacturing growth through a connected, accessible ecosystem that supports innovation, workforce development and a business-friendly environment. CAM managed programs include the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2), the MassBridge manufacturing training program, and the MassMakes portal. Learn more at https://cam.masstech.org/.

About MITRE

MITRE’s mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through our public-private partnerships and federally funded R&D centers, we work across government and in partnership with industry to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation.

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