February 23, 2022
President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden,
Thank you for your unwavering support of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. Your focus on this issue has the United States on the cusp of an historic investment in the industry. The need for this legislation is clear: pandemic-related disruptions to the global semiconductor supply chain have had a ripple effect on our economy, fueling inflation and highlighting the importance of domestic manufacturing.
The $52 billion CHIPS for America Fund included in both the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260) and America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521) provides needed incentives to increase domestic semiconductor production. We would like to bring to your attention a key provision of this legislation, the creation of a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), and highlight Albany, New York as the perfect location for such a Center.
The NSTC will serve as a hub that brings together industry, government, and academia to conduct advanced semiconductor research and prototyping to strengthen our domestic ecosystem. The Albany Nanotech Complex is the blueprint for this type of R&D collaboration, bringing together a public university, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, with industry leaders like IBM, Applied Materials Inc., Tokyo Electron Ltd., Intel Corp. and Wolfspeed Inc. Just in the last year, IBM and Intel announced a next-generation semiconductor research initiative at SUNY Polyi and IBM and Samsung announced that their Albany partnership had led to a semiconductor breakthrough with the potential to reduce energy usage by 85 percent.ii These are just two of many innovations that have emerged from Albany’s proven chip innovation ecosystem.
Albany is also the best choice to ensure that the NSTC is an instant success, thanks to our existing infrastructure, academic institutions, and our skilled and diverse workforce. These attributes are no doubt part of the reason GlobalFoundries chose to invest in a second chip factory in Malta, New York, just 25 miles north of Albany. As Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves saw when he visited in January, the Albany’s Nanotech Complex has the cleanroom and office infrastructure to immediately begin hosting the Center upon award. In addition, Albany Nanotech is already seeking the approvals needed to quickly expand its footprint.
Should the CHIPS for America Fund become a reality, the Department of Commerce should invest in what is already working. Senate Majority Leader Schumer, a tireless advocate for American semiconductor manufacturing, said it best: “there’s only one place for this center to be.”
