The aerospace and defense industries are increasingly focusing on large investments in microelectronics, recognizing its crucial role in modern warfare and national security. This trend is reflected in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) budgeting priorities and strategies.
One of the key areas of investment by the DoD is in “Trusted Microelectronics.” This involves ensuring access to secure, state-of-the-art microelectronics infrastructure at a commercial scale. The DoD is collaborating with domestic commercial foundries to achieve this, with a significant budget allocation aimed at creating and modernizing U.S. microelectronics infrastructure.
Another focus is on “Custom Assured Devices.” This encompasses funding for the development of new devices and technologies that meet defense-specific requirements, which are not typically covered by commercial offerings. This includes advancements in areas like radiation-hardened devices essential for defense nuclear systems.
The third significant area is “Packaging and Integration Technology.” The DoD is investing heavily in this sector to foster domestic alternatives to existing packaging technologies. This also involves supporting new solutions for integrating various semiconductor technologies, such as traditional silicon logic with novel radio frequency and photonics.
The overarching aim of these investments is to establish a resilient and assured domestic supply chain for microelectronics, crucial for national defense and economic competitiveness. This necessitates collaboration across the value chain, involving public-private partnerships that align with national security needs.
Additionally, the CHIPS and Science Act plays a pivotal role in advancing the DoD’s emphasis on microelectronics. This act provides substantial funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research and development activities in the U.S. It is part of a broader effort to bridge the gap from “lab-to-fab,” ensuring that innovative microelectronics technologies developed in U.S. research institutions can be produced domestically at scale.
These efforts by the DoD and the broader U.S. government are in response to the strategic challenges posed by other nations, notably China, which is heavily investing in technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and microelectronics to modernize its military. The U.S.’s focus on microelectronics is thus not only an economic issue but also a critical aspect of national security strategy.