The CHIPS Act: A New Era in U.S. Semiconductors

Following the invention of the transistor in 1947, the US semiconductor industry led the world in innovation in semiconductors from 1950 through 1980, as Moore’s Law shrunk transistors and increased the complexity of chips. In 1975, Japan’s government began investing in semiconductor technology with their largest firms. Their focused DRAM program rapidly captured 50% of the semiconductor market and drove most US DRAM companies from the market.

The US responded with the Very High Speed Integrated Circuits (VHSIC) program in 1980. By the end of the 1980s, the Berlin Wall fell and the US maintained its leadership in supercomputers. In 1983, Korea joined the world competition, beginning development of DRAM products. By 1993, they had overtaken the Japanese and have become the leading supplier of DRAM.

In the 1990s, the Japanese developed non-volatile NAND Flash products and became the leading supplier of all commodity memory products by the 2000s. During the same time period, Taiwan entered the semiconductor foundry market, focused on highly integrated logic chips, investing in increasing costly factories. By the 2000s, they became the leader in silicon foundries. The US went increasingly fabless, with companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, AMD, and NVIDIA depending upon offshore foundries.

In 2014, China launched its $150B Big Fund to become competitive in the world market. By 2022, a focused Chinese effort in 5G wireless communication has made them a world leader in this technology, and they are gaining ground in memory and logic.

Most semiconductors are no longer being manufactured in the US. Taiwan and Korea have gained technical leadership. As Moore’s Law hits the wall, new Beyond Moore technologies in semiconductor process and packaging require us to maintain our semiconductor leadership so that we keep computer leadership and security.

David Bondurant is a 50-year IEEE Life Senior Member. He developed computers at Control Data and Univac in the 1970s, VHSIC semiconductor and computer-aided design technology at Honeywell in the 1980s, and advanced memory technologies in 1990s and 2000s at companies like Ramtron, Enhanced Memory Systems, Simtek, Freescale & Everspin Technologies. In retirement, he volunteers with the IEEE and Computer Society, working with Chapters and members around the world.

About the speaker, Matt Francis of Ozark Integrated Circuits

Matt Francis is an IEEE Senior Member and an IEEE-CNSV member, and has a wide variety of experience spanning technology, startups, commercialization and leadership. He has served as President and CEO of Ozark Integrated Circuits, Inc. (Fayetteville, AR, USA) since its founding in 2011. At Ozark IC, Dr. Francis leads high-temperature integrated circuits and packaging design, modeling, simulation and assembly, including silicon carbide and advanced ceramics.

In addition to his technical expertise in compact modeling and CAD for temperature and radiation, Matt is well versed in migrating technology from idea to commercial application, having secured and led projects with the US Air Force, NASA, NSF, Department of Energy and private-sector customers. Ozark IC’s product applications range from turbine engine controls to downhole energy exploration, and space-borne applications. Additionally, Matt has also been an ISS payload specialist for Ozark IC’s UV sensors since their installation in orbit in 2019.

Location: Webinar               Video recording available on YouTube.