- The Defense Department plans to announce a program called “Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes – Commercial”, or “RAMP-C” for short
- It will complement existing programs it recently launched to encourage U.S. chip manufacturing
As per a report by Reuters, the U.S. Defense Department will soon start soliciting proposals for a program to provide incentives to boost semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in the United States, according to a posting on a government contracting site. The report added that major American semiconductor companies like Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp rely on outside manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) or Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to fabricate their chips in what are called foundries.
Majority of these foundries are located in Taiwan or South Korea. The report said that the according to a notice posted to the website of the National Security Technology Accelerator, the Defense Department is looking to change that dynamic. It aims to provide incentives for the development of chip-related intellectual property and the creation of advanced foundries in the United States. It said that the foundries would handle commercial work from U.S. companies and could also provide components to the Defense Department.
“RAMP-C”
The report said that the Defense Department plans to announce a program called “Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes – Commercial”, or “RAMP-C” for short. It will complement existing programs it recently launched to encourage U.S. chip manufacturing.
The report added that the posting said that there is currently no commercially viable option that can provide a U.S. located leading-edge foundry that can fabricate the assured leading-edge custom integrated circuits and Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) products required for critical DoD systems. It further said that the purpose of the RAMP-C program is to incentivize such an option.
