Durham lands new semiconductor institute as White House offers $285 million CHIPS award
With two months left in office, the Biden administration announced it has begun negotiating with a Durham nonprofit to fund a major semiconductor research center in North Carolina.
Gov. Roy Cooper and Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams were among officials who spoke Tuesday as the Semiconductor Research Corp. celebrated a $285 million award from the U.S. Department of Commerce through the federal CHIPS and Science Act.
Semiconductor Research Corp., or SRC, is a consortium managing university research for the benefit of its member companies, which include IBM, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. With backing from CHIPS funds, the organization plans to establish an institute focusing on digital twins — virtual versions of physical items — to study U.S. semiconductor production.
Called Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins or SMART USA, the center would join a network of 17 institutes nationwide that advance domestic manufacturing. SRC said its CHIPS proposal had the support of more than 150 participating organizations. In addition to the $285 million federal investment, the nonprofit expects to receive more than $750 million from private and academic partners to build the institute.
“This is going to pave the way for so many new great-paying jobs in the semiconductor arena,” Cooper said after giving remarks at the SRC office near Research Triangle Park. “We already have a good ground-hold on that, and I believe this funding will allow us to expand even more.”
Digital twinning strives to save time and costs by enabling researchers to pinpoint and patch production inefficiencies in a virtual space. It also facilitates greater information sharing between partners, said Laurie Locascio, undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology.
Locascio called the promised digital twins institute “first-of-its-kind” and “a historic step forward for America’s semiconductor capabilities.”
Semiconductors are a category of materials used to make chips essential to a wide range of applications, from cell phones to fighter jets to electric vehicles. In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS Act to bolster domestic chip production, in part by reserving $53 billion for grant awards.
But the funding to the Semiconductor Research Corp. isn’t finalized.
With a new administration incoming, some question whether all allocated CHIPS grants will be administered. President-elect Donald Trump has previously criticized the CHIPS Act, telling podcaster Joe Rogan during the campaign, “When I see us paying a lot of money to have people build chips, that’s not the way.”
On Tuesday, Cooper said he wants Trump to preserve the CHIPS legislation.
“North Carolina, we’re going to keep making the investments,” he said. “We hope is that the change in administration in Washington won’t slow down this necessary transformation of our economy that’s going to keep us competitive.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 1:31 PM.
