DOD Issues Call for FY 2024 Microelectronics Commons Projects, Provides $280M Total Awards

The Department of Defense announced a call for projects for the Microelectronics Commons’ fiscal year 2024, allocating up to $280 million in funding to support the CHIPS and Science Act and President Joe Biden’s Investing in America program. The call covers the eight Commons regional hubs that  Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced in September. 

According to David Honey, a speaker at a past Potomac Officers Club event, the companies and universities that will participate in the projects “will catalyze domestic production of advanced microelectronics” vital to U.S. security and economic competitiveness, the Department of Defense said.

The hubs, which span 35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, comprise over 380 organizations, with more than 100 in academia. The hubs’ task is to develop laboratory prototypes into fabrication patterns and to beef up the semiconductor workforce.

The DOD holds $2 billion in total allocation for the Commons, which will focus on six technical areas: secure edge/internet of things computing, 5G/6G, artificial intelligence hardware, quantum technology, electromagnetic warfare and commercial leap-ahead technologies.

The DOD expects the Microelectronics Commons project awards’ issuance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.