On Thursday, federal officials met at NC State University’s Park Alumni Center to announce that the CLAWS Hub would be getting $19 million from the federal government to work on chips.
Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors is what CLAWS stands for. It is based at NC State and is made up of NC State, North Carolina A&T State University, and six private companies.
“NC State has been a leader in these specialty semiconductors for a long time,” said Dr. Arati Prabhakar, who is President Joe Biden’s Chief Advisor for Science and Technology. “These semiconductors are so important to our military for radar and for power electronics.”
Not only are semiconductors used in cell phones and freezers, but they are also used in data centers and military equipment.
For new technologies like artificial intelligence to work, they will need power. This power needs to be delivered quickly and efficiently. “If you want to make the next generation of quantum computers, you need new lasers and photonic integrated circuits,” said Dr. John Muth, who is in charge of the CLAWS Hub.
Concerns about national security have been raised by US officials about the fact that Taiwan makes most of the chips in the world.
“Weapons and planes need to be able to move faster. They should be able to weigh less. “They need radars that can pick up on the enemy from farther away,” Muth said.
Prabhakar said that more money has changed everything.
“The United States had 0% of the world’s ability to make advanced logic when the CHIPS and Science Act was passed.” They said, “And in ten years, in 2032, we’ll go from 0% to 28% because of the CHIPS and Science Act and the huge amount of private capital it brings with it.”
According to Muth, all four projects will take more than one year, and the overall amount of money will be more than the $19 million that was announced Thursday.
“I want to use what I’ve learned in school and the help we get to push it in the business world.” “I hope it helps me move forward a lot,” said NC State Master’s student Jacob Davis.
Dan Rogers, an NC State PhD student, said, “I think it’s a really great opportunity to kind of leverage for employers and for future employment opportunities to be able to say that you worked on some of these different innovations.”