CHIPS for America strategy released

The U.S. Department of Commerce released its strategy for implementing the $50 billion CHIPS Act of 2022 program, which was signed by President Biden last month.  Here are the highlights,

The CHIPS Act of 2022 program has four primary goals :

• Establish and expand domestic production of leading edge semiconductors in the US, of which the US currently makes 0% of the world’s supply
• Build a sufficient and stable supply of mature node semiconductors
• Invest in R&D to ensure the next generation semiconductor technology is developed and produced in the US.
• Create tens of thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs and more than hundred thousand construction jobs. This effort will ensure the pipeline for these jobs expands to include people who have historically not had a chance to participate in this industry, including women, people of color, veterans and people who live in rural areas

The program supports three distinct initiatives:

• Large scale investments in leading edge manufacturing: The CHIPS incentives program will target approximately three quarters of the incentives funding, around $28 billion, to establish domestic production of leading-edge logic and memory chips that require the most sophisticated manufacturing processes available today. Those amounts may be available for grants or cooperative agreements, or to subsidize loans or loan guarantees. The Department is still assessing the impact of the newly enacted advanced manufacturing facility investment tax credit on capital expenditures, which will generate significant additional project investment from participants and will reduce the required share of CHIPS incentives funding allocated for leading edge projects. The Department will seek proposals for the construction or expansion of manufacturing facilities to fabricate, package, assemble and test these critical components, particularly focusing on projects that involve multiple high-cost production lines and associated supplier ecosystems.
• 
  New manufacturing capacity for mature and current-generation chips, new and specialty technologies, and for semiconductor industry suppliers: The CHIPS incentives program will increase domestic production of semiconductors across a range of nodes including chips used in defense and in critical commercial sectors such as automobiles, information and communications technology, and medical devices. This initiative is broad and flexible, encouraging industry participants to craft creative proposals. For this initiative, the Department expects dozens of awards with the total value expected to be at least a quarter of the available CHIPS incentives funding, or approximately $10 billion. Those amounts may be available for grants or cooperative agreements, or to subsidize loans or loan guarantees.
• 
  
  Initiatives to strengthen US leadership in R&D: The CHIPS R&D program will invest $11 billion in a National Semiconductor Technology Center, a National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, up to three new Manufacturing USA Institutes, and in NIST metrology research and development programs. This constellation of programs is intended to create a dynamic new network of innovation for the semiconductor ecosystem in the United States. Executing this vision will require collaboration with academia, industry, and allied countries, and will require sustained investment over many years.

Funding documents, which will provide specific application guidance for the CHIPS for America program, will be released by early February 2023.

“Rebuilding America’s leadership in the semiconductor industry is a down payment on our future as a global leader,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “CHIPS for America, will ensure continued US leadership in the industries that underpin our national security and economic competitiveness. Under President Biden’s leadership, we are once again making things in America, revitalizing our manufacturing industry after decades of disinvestment and making the investments we need to lead the world in technology and innovation.”

https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2022/09/biden-administration-releases-implementation-strategy-50-billion-chips

An 18-page strategy document is published here: https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2022/09/06/CHIPS_Strategic_Plan_Sept_6_2022.pdf

CHIPS and Science Act funding processes get underway

Thursday, August 25, 2022    

 President Biden signed an Executive Order to implement the semiconductor funding in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.The order establishes an interagency CHIPS Implementation Steering Council, which will be  co-chaired by National Economic Director Brian Deese, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and the Acting Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Alondra Nelson. The order also  establishes...

READ MORE

Key provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022

Thursday, July 28, 2022  CHIPs, Gov  

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 243-187 to pass the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The legislation was approved by the U.S. Senate last week. President Biden is now expected to sign it into law.The principal aim of the CHIPS Act is to onshore domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. It will also substantially increase government funding for science and technology development programs impacting the networking and telecommunications fields. The...

READ MORE

Read More

Biden's cybersecurity order mandates zero-trust for federal networks

In the wake of recent cybersecurity incidents, notably SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and Colonial Pipeline, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at improving the nation's cybersecurity posture. 

Here are the highlights:

Remove Barriers to Threat Information Sharing Between Government and the Private Sector. The Executive Order ensures that IT Service Providers are able to share information with the government and requires them to share certain breach information. 

Modernize and Implement Stronger Cybersecurity Standards in the Federal Government. The Executive Order helps move the Federal government to secure cloud services and a zero-trust architecture, and mandates deployment of multifactor authentication and encryption with a specific time period.  The Federal government must increase its adoption of security best practices, including by employing a zero-trust security model, accelerating movement to secure cloud services, and consistently deploying foundational security tools such as multifactor authentication and encryption.

Improve Software Supply Chain Security. The Executive Order will improve the security of software by establishing baseline security standards for development of software sold to the government, including requiring developers to maintain greater visibility into their software and making security data publicly available. It stands up a concurrent public-private process to develop new and innovative approaches to secure software development and uses the power of Federal procurement to incentivize the market. Finally, it creates a pilot program to create an “energy star” type of label so the government – and the public at large – can quickly determine whether software was developed securely. 

Establish a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board. The Executive Order establishes a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, co-chaired by government and private sector leads, that may convene following a significant cyber incident to analyze what happened and make concrete recommendations for improving cybersecurity. 

Create a Standard Playbook for Responding to Cyber Incidents. The Executive Order creates a standardized playbook and set of definitions for cyber incident response by federal departments and agencies. The playbook will ensure all Federal agencies meet a certain threshold and are prepared to take uniform steps to identify and mitigate a threat.  The playbook will also provide the private sector with a template for its response efforts.

Improve Detection of Cybersecurity Incidents on Federal Government Networks. The Executive Order improves the ability to detect malicious cyber activity on federal networks by enabling a government-wide endpoint detection and response system and improved information sharing within the Federal government.

Improve Investigative and Remediation Capabilities. The Executive Order creates cybersecurity event log requirements for federal departments and agencies. 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/12/fact-sheet-president-signs-executive-order-charting-new-course-to-improve-the-nations-cybersecurity-and-protect-federal-government-networks/

Read More

Biden nominates National Cyber Director and CISA Director

 President Biden will nominate Chris Inglis as the firstNational Cyber Director and Jen Easterly as the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency. 

John Chris Inglis is a former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.

Jen Easterly is a former Army intelligence officer and currently Head of Firm Resilience and the Fusion Resilience Center at Morgan Stanley.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/

Read More

BAE Systems partners with Flexera for government cloud migration

BAE Systems, the British defence, security and aerospace company, has formed a partnership with  Flexera to help government agencies moving to the cloud better manage their software licenses and more accurately plan and budget for their future information technology (IT) needs.

Specifically, BAE Systems will integrate Flexera’s  asset and license management tools into its scalable, hybrid cloud environment for government. The federated secure cloud, developed by BAE Systems and Dell EMC, is designed for any U.S. Intelligence Community, Department of Defense (DoD), or federal/civilian government organization.

Flexera is based in Itasca, Illinois.

“With our federated secure cloud, we’re helping government agencies rethink how they share data, analyze information, and collaborate across their enterprises real-time while remaining consistent with strict governance and security requirements,” said Peder Jungck, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems’ Intelligence Solutions business. “It’s only natural that we’d partner with Flexera – a company reimagining how government IT assets and software licenses are bought, sold, managed, and secured.”

Read More