The Department of Commerce (DoC) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on Oct. 18, officially opening a competition with up to $1.6 billion in funding to support research and development (R&D) activities for semiconductor advanced packaging.
The funding is authorized under the CHIPS and Science Act and marks the largest funding opportunity from CHIPS R&D to date. The Commerce Department first announced its plans for the competition in July.
The grants are part of the DoC’s National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP) – which the agency expects will make about $3 billion in total funding.
“Securing domestic packaging capabilities is a key part of our mission to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s investments in the NAPMP, including the advanced packaging piloting facility, expected to be announced later this year, will bring innovative and new technologies directly to American manufacturers and consumers – helping achieve the economic and national security goals of the CHIPS and Science Act,” said Raimondo.
Advanced packaging combines multiple semiconductor chips into a single electronic package – blurring the line between chip and package. This process offers numerous benefits such as protecting the chip, facilitating reliable inter-chip communication, increasing chip reuse, and potentially decreasing costs.
However, the vast majority of advanced packaging manufacturing currently takes place in Asia. The new funding comes at a critical time to help expand the limited packaging capability within the United States.
Under the competition, the agency’s CHIPS for America program plans to make several awards across five R&D areas. These areas include equipment, tools, processes, and process integration; power delivery and thermal management; connector technology; chiplets ecosystem; and co-design/electronic design automation.
DoC said the award amounts will vary by R&D area and range from about $10 million to $150 million per award, with the agency making awards over a five-year period of performance. CHIPS for America also plans to reserve $50 million to support awardees’ future prototyping activities.
“This ambitious funding opportunity is designed to fill key technology gaps in advanced packaging to ensure U.S. leadership in the global semiconductor ecosystem,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Director Laurie Locascio. “CHIPS for America is delivering on its mission to create a domestic packaging industry where advanced node chips manufactured in the U.S. and abroad can be packaged within the United States.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, the CHIPS Research and Development Office will host a one-day meeting for potential applicants to learn more about this funding opportunity.
