Seven semiconductor heavyweights from industry, government and academia will head up the new National Semiconductor Technology Center, the core R&D component of the CHIPS for America program inside NIST at the Department of Commerce.
CHIPS for America and NSTC were made possible with the passage of the CHIPS Act in August 2022, which set aside $11 billion for R&D for four integrated entities: NSTC, the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, Manufacturing USA institutes (up to three institutes) and CHIPS R&D Metrology (conducted by NIST).
“The NTSC is going to supercharge chip technology and innovation ecosystems across the country so that cutting-edge developments in semiconductor designed and manufacturing happen here in the US,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement issued Wednesday.
Of the seven picks to head the inaugural board of trustees of NTSC, one is a well-known name: Craig Barrett, retired CEO and chair of Intel. Now 84, Barrett completed a PhD at Stanford University and joined Intel in 1974 as a manager then became CEO in 1998 and chairman in 2005 before retiring as chair in 2009.
Like Barrett, all the other incoming trustees also hold advanced degrees in technology, business or law. Three of the seven are women.
James D. Plummer will serve as the inaugural chair of the NSTC board. He is a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and previously served as dean of the engineering school there from 1999-2014.
The other five board members of NTSC are:
Robin Abrams, a veteran former CEO of several companies including Firefly Communications, VeriFone and former president of Apple Americas. She served as interim CEO at ZILOG, a provider of integrated microcontroller products.
L. Reginald Brothers, a principal with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and an operating partner at AE Industrial. He previously served as CTO at Peraton and was Under Secretary for Science and Technology at US Homeland Security.
Nicholas Donofrio, retired IBM veteran who led technology and innovation strategies there from 1997 to 2008.
Donna Dubinsky, former CEO of Palm Computing and Handspring, pioneers of the first handheld computers and smartphones. She co-founded and served as chair and CEO of Numenta and continues as chair there.
Erica R.H. Fuchs, professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. She is founding director of the National Network for Critical Technology Assessment.
The trustees were chosen by a selection committee comprised of Janet Foutty, John Hennessy, Jason Matheny, Donald J. Rosenberg and Brenda Darden Wilkerson. They issued a joint statement predicting the NTSC will be a “transformational institution for the semiconductor industry.”
One of the first tasks for the new board will be to create a nonprofit to run the NSTC and hire executive leaders. NTSC is expected to serve as a hub of collaboration for the entire chip manufacturing and supplier ecosystem tasked with accelerating the pace of innovation and lowering the cost and time needed to bring new technologies to market. NSTC will also help guide training of the next-generation semiconductor work force.
A vision statement for NTSC said it should provide advanced prototyping capabilities for the R&D community to advance new concepts.
The Semiconductor Industry Association issued a statement welcoming the initial board members, saying they have the diverse knowledge and experience to be a “tremendous asset in advancing domestic chip research and innovation.” The appointment of the board is a “significant step toward ensuring swift and effective implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act’s critical R&D provisions.”
SIA said in a study a year ago that that CHIPS funding should be used to bridge key gaps in the current chip R&D ecosystem. The CHIPS Act, heavily backed by the chip industry and SIA, has stimulated more than $210 billion in private investments across dozens of projects that will create more than 40,0000 jobs, SIA said.