US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks at the Albany Nanotech Complex. (Mike Gwizdala — MediaNews Group files)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently revealed that the U.S. Department of Commerce has issued additional guidance on the launch of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) created in his CHIPS and Science Act. .
Schumer has fought for years to elevate Albany Nanotech’s world-class facility as an ideal hub for NSTC. In particular, Albany Nano is the nation’s most ‘ready-to-go’ R&D facility ready to bring NSTC’s vision to life.
In a press release, the senators said the guidance would serve as a blueprint for implementing NSTC, a future pillar of American innovation in semiconductor development, doubling down on Albany Nanotech and Upstate New York as uniquely suited. to be a major leader in this new national effort.
“I always had Albany Nanotech on the back of my mind when I wrote the CHIPS and Science Act to fund the creation of NSTC. Albany is poised to serve as a major innovation hub for NSTC. It’s done,” Schumer said in a release. “Today’s release of additional details on how the Administration will establish the NSTC will highlight both this vision and the role that Upstate New York will play in this once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a national network. It’s another step in the direction of enabling, helping us reach the next frontier of semiconductor innovation.
“We invented the microchip, but for years its manufacturing was outmatched by overseas competition. Now tens of thousands of high paying jobs are returning and the vision Commerce announced today , showing how NSTC can be a central pillar for continuous innovation and training the workforce of the future to ensure America and New York are global leaders in this technology.
“I will continue to fight to provide significant federal investment to build the future of this industry in Upstate New York, with Albany Nanotech as a major hub for NSTC.”
Schumer has worked with Albany Nanotech, IBM, and other leading industry and academic partners to create the National Center for Semiconductor Technology and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, which was introduced into law as part of last year’s CHIPS and Science Bills. Succeeded.
The bill allocated $11 billion for research and development for the Department of Commerce to create NSTC and other specialized research and development programs. NSTC serves as a research and engineering center for the entire semiconductor ecosystem, driving and enabling, and providing support for, the disruptive innovations that provide U.S. leadership in the industry of the future.[port for workforce development and entrepreneurship.
Schumer said in the release that three high-level goals will drive the work of the NSTC and expects that the programs needed to implement these goals will be executed through a combination of new capabilities along with affiliated and collaborative relationships with existing entities. The three goals include:
• Extend U.S. leadership in foundational technologies for future applications and industries and strengthen the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.
• Reduce significantly the time and cost to prototype innovative ideas for member organizations.
• Build and sustain a semiconductor workforce development ecosystem.
The Commerce Department expects to build the NSTC in stages, beginning with standing up the organization, followed by prioritization of early-stage projects, and leading to the development and implementation of focused programs. By the decade’s end, the NSTC should be viewed throughout the world as an essential resource within the broad semiconductor ecosystem with a network of respected scientists and engineers, state-of-the-art facilities, effective programs, and demonstrated technical achievements.
The NSTC will consist of a headquarters facility and an integrated network of NSTC-affiliated technical centers with locations geographically distributed to leverage existing capabilities. The Commerce Department envisions that the network of NSTC technical centers will be capable of end-to-end fabrication to enable small prototyping and pilot runs, experimentation with and testing of new materials and equipment, and other research-related activities.
Schumer said that Albany Nanotech is the most “shovel-ready” R&D facility in the country and ready to quickly stand up the NSTC. The multibillion-dollar Albany Nanotech is the most advanced, publicly-owned, 300-millimeter semiconductor R&D facility, has well-established partnerships with industry leaders and top academic research institutions across the country, including in critical logic and packaging capabilities, and is set up to immediately begin supporting the needs of the broader semiconductor ecosystem, including startups, small businesses, and the workforce.
The site and its partners have a long record of accomplishment of groundbreaking research that has led to successful technology transfer, translating research into manufacturing and commercialization.
Almost two years ago, IBM announced the successful development of the world’s first 2 nanometer (nm) microchip – with the R&D work done at the Albany Nanotech Complex, the same site that produced the world’s first 7nm and 5nm chips. Albany Nanotech is well positioned to develop the nation’s semiconductor workforce with strong university partnerships across the SUNY system and with top engineering schools like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cornell, Clarkson, Columbia, and Rochester Institute of Technology.
Albany Nanotech also has developed partnerships with premier universities outside of New York like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and University of Arizona and is focused on working with community colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to prioritize the development of a diverse workforce for the industry.
Additionally, late last year, SUNY Polytechnic Institute announced that they have developed with a collaboration of companies a Career Alignment Platform initiative, which is partially funded by $1.25 million from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, to provide students and existing workers with training and career pathway support through the Albany Nanotech Complex to access jobs in the semiconductor industry.
Schumer has fought to uplift the Capital Region and broader Upstate New York as a major hub to lead the nation in semiconductor manufacturing and research. Most recently, Schumer personally invited Albany Nanotech head David Anderson to President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address to highlight his push to land the NSTC in the Capital Region.
Prior to the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, Schumer brought the Commerce Secretary to Malta to announce GlobalFoundries’ second chip fab in 2021, and arranged for Secretary Gina Raimondo to meet with Albany Nanotech and IBM leaders to discuss the unique assets the region has for leading the NSTC.
Schumer also brought Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves to Albany to tour Albany Nanotech and see firsthand how the Capital Region is perfectly suited to stand up the NSTC.