May 30, 2024
To Win the Chip War, the U.S. Must Prioritize Revolutionary Research
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has described the effort to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry as a technological moonshot — a mirror of NASA’s famed Apollo program. But this moonshot can only succeed if those behind it dare to dream big — and dream up revolutionary technologies.
Through the Chips and Science Act, the Biden administration has begun to distribute $39 billion in manufacturing grants over five years to semiconductor chipmakers — a shot in the arm for businesses competing against heavily subsidized rivals in East Asia and an insurance policy in the event of Chinese aggression. But in the long run, U.S. success requires maintaining a technological edge, and that means an emphasis on research and development.
Taking big bets on moonshot technologies is the only approach that can sustain Moore’s law and guarantee that the United States continues to lead in the technologies of tomorrow.
The Commerce Department has established a National Semiconductor Technology Center — the NSTC — to deploy up to $11 billion in R&D funds allocated by the Chips Act over the next five years. But what exactly should the NSTC do? We think it should focus on taking big swings, complementing industry while remaining independent of it.
The pace foreseen by Moore’s law — the prediction that the computing power of chips would double every few years — has slowed, imperiling the trend toward better, cheaper computing power. Sustaining Moore’s law is critical to our nation’s future prosperity and security, and to nearly every segment of technology. Guaranteeing another generation of exponential computing advances ought to be the NSTC’s central priority.
Read the full article from The Washington Post.
More from CNAS
-
Five Objectives to Guide U.S. AI Diffusion
Commentary
The Framework for AI Diffusion (the Framework) is an ambitious proposal to shape the global distribution of critical AI capabilities, maintain U.S. AI leadership, and prevent ...
By Janet Egan & Spencer Michaels
-
Shaping the World’s AI Future: How the U.S. and China Compete to Promote Their Digital Visions
Commentary
As the United States navigates evolving global AI competition, balancing these elements will be crucial in determining whose AI systems — and by extension, whose approaches, v...
By Keegan McBride
-
Countering the Digital Silk Road: Brazil
Reports
Project Overview This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), China’s ambitious initiative to shape critical digital infrastructure around the world to...
By Ruby Scanlon & Bill Drexel
-
Promethean Rivalry
Reports
Executive Summary Just as nuclear weapons revolutionized 20th-century geopolitics, artificial intelligence (AI) is primed to transform 21st-century power dynamics—with world l...
By Bill Drexel
