The United States is taking significant steps to enhance its semiconductor defense industrial base as the Department of Commerce and the Department of Defense signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to foster collaboration and information sharing between the two departments. This partnership aims to bolster the CHIPS for America’s incentives program, ensuring that investments align with national security and defense needs.
The MOA is a crucial move forward in the implementation of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, a vital component of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. This agreement further solidifies the administration’s commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chains, ensuring U.S. global leadership, and safeguarding long-term national security.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, who signed the MOA on behalf of the Department of Defense, emphasized the importance of increasing the capacity and resilience of the domestic semiconductor industrial base. Collaborative efforts between the two departments are essential to ensure complementary investments that support a robust semiconductor industrial base. The Departments of Defense and Commerce are working together to expand domestic semiconductor production capacity in a coordinated manner.
Michael Schmidt, Director of the CHIPS Program Office, signed the MOA on behalf of the Department of Commerce, emphasizing the top priority of advancing U.S. national security. Schmidt emphasized that both departments must work in alignment to strengthen the U.S. industrial base. The agreement will enable joint coordination of the national security review of applications and foster the production of semiconductor chips in the U.S. to support the military and reinforce the domestic supply chain resiliency.
Through this MOA, the Departments aim to create a more synchronized approach to promoting a robust and resilient semiconductor supply chain. Specific areas of consultation outlined in the MOA include sharing information on semiconductor needs in the Defense Industrial Base, investment priorities of DoD and each military service, existing and planned investments to sustain mature and legacy chip capabilities for current defense programs, and funding to support emerging technologies critical to future U.S. national security programs.
Moreover, the MOA will foster collaboration on potential investment applications, ensuring that both the Department of Commerce and the Department of Defense make complementary decisions that maximize federal investments under the CHIPS Incentive Program and DoD Defense Production Act and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment funds. This collaboration marks a significant stride forward in fortifying the U.S. semiconductor defense industrial base and ensuring the nation’s technological and national security advancement.