CHIPS for America Announces New Proposed $285 Million Award for CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute for Digital Twins, Headquartered in North Carolina

On November 19, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Manufacturing Consortium Corporation (SRC) are entering negotiations for the Department to provide SRC $285 million to establish and operate a Manufacturing USA institute headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. 

With combined funding totaling $1 billion, this investment will support the launch of the first-of-its-kind CHIPS Manufacturing USA institute. The new institute, known as SMART USA (Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins USA) will focus on efforts to develop, validate, and use digital twins to improve domestic semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly, and test processes. 

SMART USA will join an existing network of seventeen institutes designed to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and promote a robust R&D infrastructure. SRC is an important part of North Carolina’s research ecosystem, including decades-long relationships with North Carolina’s universities. 

Read the full press to learn more about the new institute.