Soon-to-Pass Federal Legislation Could Bring New Investment and Jobs to Indiana
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCongress is set to soon pass bipartisan legislation that will offer tens of billions of dollars in research funding and tax credits to strengthen and secure America’s semiconductor production. Not only will this help maintain America’s leadership in this critical technology, but it could also bring new investment, economic growth and jobs to Indiana.
Invented in America, semiconductors are the tiny chips that enable modern technologies like smart phones, medical devices, computers and transportation networks, but are also critical components in the tools and systems that are key to our national defense.
While the U.S. has led the world in semiconductor innovation for 50 years, other nations – particularly China – are making significant investments in an effort to catch up in chip design and manufacturing.
U.S. Senate and House lawmakers have included – in the massive and must-pass legislation that guides the U.S. Department of Defense budget – the CHIPS for America Act (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America). The CHIPS Act is designed to boost American semiconductor manufacturing through increased federal incentives that stimulate advanced chip manufacturing, enable advanced research and development, secure the supply chain and bring greater transparency to the semiconductor ecosystem.
The Act will also help the U.S. in key advanced semiconductor technology identified in the 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy including: cybersecurity, space and hypersonics, 5G, microelectronics, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and more.
Indiana industry, academic and government leaders brought together by IN3 (Indiana Innovation Institute) met recently to plan for the passage of the CHIPS Act – and to make the case that Indiana should be one of the centers in the U.S. for semiconductor design, packaging, heterogeneous integration, modeling and simulation.
Why Indiana
Indiana is home to some of the country’s top research universities, including Purdue University, Indiana University, Notre Dame and several others. Moreover, the state is a leading center of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) postsecondary and graduate education, with one-third of the country’s engineers educated within a 200-mile radius of the state. Universities in Indiana currently produce one of the largest pipelines of talent in the field of microelectronics and semiconductors with expertise in modeling, advanced fabrication and much more.
This means that Indiana already has the workforce to quickly scale for semiconductor growth. It is home to more than 34,000 engineers (46% above the US average) with one in five Hoosiers working in advanced manufacturing.
Indiana is also home to some of the world’s largest and most respected companies that are focused on our nation’s defense – as well as some of the country’s most prolific innovators and entrepreneurs. Indiana is known as “A State that Works” because it has a business environment that fosters growth and rewards ingenuity and innovation.
Indiana has in place a hub of national security and technology innovation – IN3 (Indiana Innovation Institute) – which works with academia, industry and government to help solve critical national defense priorities. With a board that includes Indiana’s Governor, major university presidents and CEOs, the nonprofit IN3 has a broad range of partners including Raytheon, Cook Group, Rolls-Royce, TASUS Corporation, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division(NSWC Crane) as well as host of other organizations which are part of IN3’s consortium.
IN3 is building an ecosystem of economic growth that is speeding new investment and advancing partnerships, jobs and the talent pool in Indiana. It is focused on several areas including the microelectronics supply chain and life cycle, artificial intelligence, hypersonics, cyber-physical systems and 5G communications technology.
To ensure that the U.S. continues to lead in the development of future technologies and in our highly-competitive global economy, American leadership in semiconductor research, development and manufacturing is essential. That is why the CHIPS Act is so important and why Indiana can – and must – play a critical role in the new semiconductor ecosystem.
Coming together through a committed strategy that includes our industry, academic, non-profit and government partners, we are poised to demonstrate that the Hoosier state plays a major role in our national security.