DoD Seeks $2.3B To Bolster US Chip Making

The Pentagon is seeking $2.3 billion to improve its ability to make specialized semiconductors for military use, as well as to fund next-generation chip innovation.

Semiconductors, used in almost every advanced weapon, are especially critical to enabling a range of defense “disruptive technologies,” such as hypersonics, AI, and 5G — all of which receive significant funding in the proposed 2022 budget.

Currently, the Defense Department works with US commercial partners to design and manufacture (i.e., fabricate) semiconductors for military use. Semiconductors for DoD’s specialized use cases and most sensitive programs — such as nuclear command and control and the Intelligence Community — are entirely fabricated in US-based foundries (specialized facilities for making chips) through the Trusted Foundry Program. But this is only a small percentage of the overall number of chips DoD uses, according to Hudson Institute expert Bryan Clark. (Clark co-authored an op-ed for Breaking Defense on the need for a US microelectronics strategy.)

“Within the Trusted Foundry Program, there are a small number of providers that are stable,” Clark tells Breaking Defense. “They’re not fragile because DoD pays a premium to them. Fragility comes into play with all the other semiconductors DoD relies on.”