President Joe Biden's administration is seeking to fund efforts to use digital twins to improve semiconductor manufacturing.
A digital twin is a virtual model used to test and optimize physical objects and systems. For example, car manufacturers are looking to use digital twins of their factories to experiment with new manufacturing processes without interrupting production.
The Biden administration announced that it will apply for a total of $285 million in funding for work that includes semiconductor digital twin development research, construction and support of combined physical and digital facilities, industrial demonstration projects, and workforce training and operations. What it says will be the new CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute.
At a press briefing on Sunday, Laurie E. Locascio, Undersecretary for Standards and Technology and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said digital twins can reduce chip development and manufacturing costs while enabling a more collaborative process associated with chip design and development. He said he could do it.
“No country has currently invested or successfully integrated the industry at the scale needed to unleash the enormous potential of digital twin technology for breakthrough discoveries,” Locascio said.
The funding is part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a $280 billion bill that includes $52.7 billion to increase domestic semiconductor manufacturing. At the time, President Biden pointed out that the United States' share of global semiconductor production had decreased from 40% to less than 10%.
Reflecting another key theme in the administration's rhetoric, Arati Prabhakar, adviser to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Sunday that when the CHIPS Act was passed, semiconductor manufacturing was “dangerously concentrated in the industry.” “he said. part of the world” (possibly referring to China).
There will be an informational webinar on the application on May 8th. Organizations that can apply include non-profit organizations, universities, governments, and for-profit businesses that are “domestic corporations” (incorporated in the United States and having their principal place of business here).