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Biden-Harris Administration Launches NSTC Workforce Center of Excellence with Expected $250 Million Investment
Includes an anticipated $11.5 million for the first workforce development awardees to address critical U.S. job and skill gaps across semiconductor research, design, manufacturing, and production
On September 25, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the launch of the National Semiconductor Technology Center’s (NSTC) Workforce Center of Excellence (WCoE), making a decisive step toward solving one of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. semiconductor industry – workforce development. As the world experiences an unprecedented demand for advanced semiconductors, America’s determination to remain a global leader in this critical technology hinges on maintaining a highly skilled and adaptable workforce.
The Department of Commerce’s expected $250 million investment into the WCoE over ten years will advance President Biden and Vice President Harris’s goals of driving innovation in the United States and supporting workers in securing good-paying semiconductor jobs. As part of today’s announcement, Natcast, the non-profit entity designated to operate the NSTC by the Department of Commerce, announced more than $11 million in anticipated awards across more than 10 states and nationally through the NSTC Workforce Partner Alliance program to further support workforce development efforts.
Read the full press release here.
Learn more about the WCoE and NSTC Workforce Partner Alliance program awardees, here.
Establishing U.S. Leadership in Future Semiconductor Technologies
The National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), is a public-private consortium dedicated to semiconductor research and development in the United States. The NSTC will convene the U.S. government, organizations across the semiconductor ecosystem—including academia and businesses of all kinds—to address the most challenging barriers to continued technological progress in the domestic semiconductor industry, including the need for a capable workforce.
NSTC Strategic Plan
On October 24, 2024, Natcast released the inaugural NSTC Strategic plan. The plan outlines a comprehensive strategy for building the NSTC as an enduring institution that will strengthen and extend U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology.
You can read the full plan at Natcast.org.
Why Do We Need the NSTC?
Semiconductors power everything, including computers, smartphones, appliances, automobiles, gaming hardware, medical equipment and other critical devices, and more. Since Jack Kilby demonstrated the first integrated circuit in 1958, the rate of advancement has been astonishing. Despite many predictions of fundamental barriers along the way, semiconductors have arguably become the most sophisticated systems known to mankind, and progress continues today. Society will rely on yet more progress as semiconductors continue to be the building blocks of the technologies that will shape our future, including artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and clean energy. Because semiconductors are a critical technology that underpins society, we must ensure that the U.S. leads the world in both innovation and manufacturing.
As semiconductor technology becomes more sophisticated, this progress comes at an increasing cost. New innovations require a greater investment to make it to market. Making an impact with a new invention can require more capital than most start-ups can afford. In some cases, even the largest companies cannot take on the risk required to bring new technologies into production.
The NSTC reflects a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the U.S. to drive the pace of innovation, set standards, and re-establish global leadership in semiconductor design and manufacturing.
The NSTC has three strategic goals:
- Extend U.S. leadership in foundational technologies for future applications and industries and strengthen the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem
- Significantly reduce the time and cost to prototype innovative ideas
- Build and sustain a semiconductor workforce development ecosystem
How will the NSTC work?
There are three key components to enabling the work of the NSTC:
The NSTC Consortium
The National Center for the Advancement of Semiconductor Technology (Natcast)
The CHIPS R&D Program Office
The Secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Energy, the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the CEO of Natcast signed an agreement to establish the NSTC as a public-private consortium.
The agreement outlines the goals and processes for determining the strategy and membership structure of the NSTC Consortium. The NSTC Consortium is not a legal entity and does not have a staff. Rather, it has a Steering Committee as its governing body, and will include members from a wide range of stakeholders including industry, academic institutions, investors, and government bodies.
As a new purpose-built, non-profit entity, Natcast was created to operate the programs of the NSTC Consortium.
The NSTC Consortium, Natcast, and the CHIPS R&D Office will work together as a team to create a best-in-class new research center for the nation, based on input from members of the NSTC Consortium and to fulfill the vision of the CHIPS and Science Act.
Fact Sheet: Learn more about the NSTC Consortium and CHIPS R&D Programs.
To learn more about the goals and vision for the NSTC, read May 2024 NSTC Roadmap and the 2023 vision and strategy paper.