The University of Washington is chasing research funding unleashed by the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August by President Biden.
The UW is spearheading a proposal submitted to the U.S. Department of Defense focused on quantum computing and is a partner on three other DoD proposals, which together seek more than $500 million in funding.
Other Pacific Northwest institutions, including Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are involved in some of the proposed projects.
The CHIPS and Science Act provides more than $50 billion to bolster U.S. chip manufacturing and research — including $13.2 billion for R&D and workforce development.
“We want to dust off our R&D skills,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) last fall at the GeekWire Summit. “Why? Because we’re facing competition from people around the globe who are doing the same thing,” she said.
The U.S. accounts for 12% of global chip manufacturing, while Taiwan dominates the market and China spends billions to bolster its own capacity. Convincing lawmakers that U.S. security was at risk was key to winning bipartisan support for the legislation, said Cantwell.
Washington state universities already have leading chip research programs and ties with the semiconductor industry, UW President Ana Mari Cauce said at a UW press conference last week. Areas of study include machine learning, hardware-software co-design, design of specialized chips for AI, and next-generation chip architecture, Cauce said.
“There’s enormous potential for making the next generation chip architectures both more powerful and more energy efficient,” Cauce said at the press conference, which highlighted the field during a UW visit by NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.
The UW-linked proposals tap into $2 billion of R&D funds from the act set aside for the DoD. The DoD aims to create regional chip technology hubs in the U.S. as part of a five-year Microelectronics Commons project.
The Commons will help train the chip workforce and support “lab-to-fab” capability in the U.S., enabling researchers to efficiently fabricate prototype chip designs.
The CHIPS and Science Act also authorized, but did not fund, a doubling of the NSF research and education budget. The UW has the potential to benefit — it is already the largest recipient of NSF grants, Panchanathan said. Biden’s recent proposed spending plan would increase funds for the agency, though it falls $4.2 billion short of the amount called for in 2024 under the act.
The CHIPS and Science Act also recently set off a race among chip makers and other players chasing $39 billion in manufacturing incentives. Businesses have already announced more than $200 billion in chip manufacturing investments nationwide, representing 44,000 jobs, U.S. Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) said at the press conference.
Universities are now waiting to see if they get slices of the pie. The DoD is slated to begin proposal selection in May and projects could begin as early as September.
All four UW-linked proposals will involve the Washington Nanofabrication Facility, a “lab-to-fab” operation on the UW campus. The facility is a unique “training ground” for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Pacific Northwest, UW College of Engineering Vice Dean Jihui Yang told GeekWire.
Read on for more information about the four proposals, provided by Yang and Mary Rezac, dean of the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University.
Pacific Northwest Quantum Hub, based at the UW
This $250 million UW-led proposal would establish the Pacific Northwest Quantum Hub. The UW-led hub would focus on technology supporting quantum computing research, including materials and electronics, optics technology, circuits, theory and algorithms.
Industry partners include Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Micron and IonQ, which recently announced plans to build a quantum computing research and manufacturing facility in Bothell, Wash.
Academic partners are PNNL, WSU, Boise State University, and the University of Oregon. UW physics professor Charlie Marcus is the lead investigator on the proposal.
AI and chip design, with leadership by Northrop Grumman
This $85 million proposal brings together defense and aerospace giant Northrop Grumman and academic and industry partners. The project focuses on incorporating artificial intelligence concepts into chip design and increasing the pace of lab-to-fab production.
Academic partners are WSU, the UW, Oregon State University, Boise State University and the University of Southern California. WSU electrical engineering and computer science professor Partha Pratim Pande and UW electrical and computer engineering professor Michael Taylor are lead investigators on the proposed project.
The project has “a really deep focus on new technology innovation, but also a rich and complex workforce development component and infrastructure upgrades,” said Rezac. Northrop has a large-scale chip fabrication facility.
AI hardware, led by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley
This $95 million proposal led by Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, also focuses on artificial intelligence hardware. Maria Huffman, director of the the Washington Nanofabrication facility, is a partner on this proposal.
Beyond silicon, based at the University of Arkansas
A fourth, $94 million proposal is led by the University of Arkansas with the intent of developing microelectronics technologies based on materials other than silicon. The UW would be a strategic partner in the Arkansas-led hub and lead a device innovation and scale-up effort for space-air-sea-ground optical communication systems. UW Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Mo Li contributed to the proposal, and Boeing, Microsoft and Intel provided letters of support.
