AI fueling rapid race for new chip-making materials

The US Department of Commerce has announced an open competition to demonstrate “how AI can assist in developing new sustainable semiconductor materials and processes that meet industry needs and can be designed and adopted within five years.”

Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology Laurie Locascio calls this “a unique opportunity to make the United States a world leader in efficient, safe, high-volume, and competitive semiconductor manufacturing.” Locascio is also director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Up to US$100 million will be awarded by the CHIPS Research and Development Office (CHIPS R&D) to winners who “develop university-led, industry-informed, collaborations about artificial intelligence-powered autonomous experimentation (AI/AE) relevant to sustainable semiconductor manufacturing.”

CHIPS R&D was established by the US CHIPS and Science Act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022. The law provides the Department of Commerce with $50 billion for programs intended to strengthen and revitalize US semiconductor manufacturing and R&D.

Of that amount, $39 billion went to the CHIPS Program Office for investment in facilities and equipment in the United States, including high-profile factories being built by Taiwan’s TSMC and America’s Intel. $11 billion was allocated to CHIPS R&D for projects such as this one.

“For the US semiconductor industry to flourish in the long-term,” the Commerce Department writes, “it must be able to develop innovative and commercially competitive technologies to sustainably produce materials and manufacture chips in a way that protects the environment and local communities.”

That seems obvious. After all, the leading American