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TAP TIMES -46- FEBRUARY 2022
MIT suggests strategy for
semiconductor leadership
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The global
semiconductor shortage has grabbed
headlines and caused a cascade of
production bottlenecks that have driv-
en up prices on all sorts of consumer
goods, from refrigerators to SUVs.
Critical role in microelectronics manufacturing, it was
The chip shortage has thrown into sharp clear to us that universities should play a
relief the critical role semiconductors play major role.
in many aspects of everyday life.
We wanted to think from scratch about
But years before the pandemic-induced how universities can best contribute to this
shortage took hold, the United States was important effort,” says Jesús del Alamo,
already facing a growing chip crisis. Its the Donner Professor in MIT’s Department
longstanding dominance in microelectron- of Electrical Engineering and Computer
ics innovation and manufacturing has been Science (EECS) and the leading author of
eroding over the past several decades in the white paper.
the face of stepped-up international com-
petition. Well-balanced programs
“Our goal is that, when these national
Reasserting U.S. leadership programs are constructed, they are built in
Now, reasserting U.S. leadership in mi- a well-balanced way, taking advantage of
croelectronics has become a priority for the tremendous resources and talent that
both industry and government, not just for American universities can bring to bear.”
economic reasons but also as a matter of
national security. The invention of semiconductor technology
by U.S. scientists led to the birth of Silicon
In a new white paper, a group of MIT re- Valley in the 1950s, which helped the U.S.
searchers argue that the country’s strat- became the dominant force in semicon-
egy for reasserting its place as a semicon- ductor research and manufacturing, but
ductor superpower must heavily involve that dominance has been slipping for de-
universities, which are uniquely positioned cades.
to pioneer new technology and train a
highly skilled workforce. Falling U.S. production
Only 12 percent of semiconductor chips
Their report, “Reasserting U.S. Leadership are produced in the U.S. today, down from
in Microelectronics,” lays out a series of 37 percent in 1990, according to the Semi-
recommendations for how universities can conductor Industry Association.
play a leading role in the national effort to
reattain global preeminence in semicon- One driver of that domestic decline is the
ductor research and manufacturing. massive infrastructure investments coun-
tries like South Korea, Taiwan, and China
“In this national quest to regain leadership have made over the past few years. Those
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