Intel has won a contract from the Department of Defense to help the semiconductor industry establish and demonstrate an intellectual property ecosystem for the first phase of a commercial chip fabrication initiative.
Intel said Monday it will work with IBM, Cadence, Synopsys and other companies to build foundry infrastructure under the DOD’s Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes-Commercial program as the U.S. government is looking to expand domestic access to secure computer processors.
The National Security Technology Accelerator manages prototyping efforts for the department via the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems other transaction agreement — also known as S2MARTS OTA.
“One of the most profound lessons of the past year is the strategic importance of semiconductors, and the value to the United States of having a strong domestic semiconductor industry,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.
“When we launched Intel Foundry Services earlier this year, we were excited to have the opportunity to make our capabilities available to a wider range of partners, including in the U.S. government, and it is great to see that potential being fulfilled through programs like RAMP-C.”
DOD tapped Intel’s commercial foundry services 10 months after the department announced its $197.2 million investment to bolster the microelectronics industrial base.
Microsoft and IBM were the awardees of RAMP Phase 1 funds amounting to $24.5 million to modernize and secure “back-end” design processes
Separately, Intel Federal business and Qorvo secured $172.7 million to create novel packaging methods for the second phase of DOD’s State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integration Prototype program.
Gelsinger unveiled in March the company’s plan to invest up to $20 billion to build two chip factories in Arizona in a push to become a major foundry services provider in the U.S. and European markets.
ExecutiveBiz, sister site of ExecutiveGov, will host a virtual forum on Oct. 24 about securing the supply chain. Visit the ExecutiveBiz Events page to register for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” forum.