Intel Corporation recently announced that it has received up to $3 billion in direct funding to advance its Secure Enclave program under the United States government's CHIPS and Science Act. The goal of this initiative is to expand the United States government's trusted manufacturing capabilities for state-of-the-art semiconductors to enhance the capabilities of defense and national security systems.
Intel's achievement builds on previous collaborative projects with the United States Department of Defense (DoD), such as Rapid Assurance Microelectronics Prototyping – Commercial (RAMP-C) and Advanced Heterogeneous Integrated Prototyping (SHIP). As the only United States company that both designs and manufactures cutting-edge logic chips, Intel will help secure the domestic chip supply chain and work with the Department of Defense to enhance the resilience of United States technology systems by advancing secure, cutting-edge solutions.
Intel's "Safe Enclave" award is separate from its March 2024 funding agreement with the Biden-Harris administration to support the construction of modern semiconductor commercial manufacturing facilities under the CHIPS and Science Act. "Intel is proud of our continued collaboration with the United States Department of Defense, which helps strengthen United States' defense and national security systems," said Chris George, president and general manager of Intel Commonwealth Corporation. Today's announcement underscores our shared commitment with the United States government to strengthen the domestic semiconductor supply chain and ensure United States maintains leadership in advanced manufacturing, microelectronic systems and process technologies.”
Figure: Intel won the $3 billion chip bill (Source: Intel)
Intel has a long history of working closely with the Department of Defense. In 2020, Intel was authorized for the second phase of the SHIP program, which enables the United States government to use Intel's advanced semiconductor packaging technology in Arizona and Oregon and take advantage of Intel's significant annual R&D and manufacturing investments. In 2023, Intel successfully delivered the first multi-chip packaging prototypes under the SHIP program, a significant achievement that ensured access to cutting-edge microelectronics packaging and paved the way for the Department of Defense to modernize.
This announcement from Intel Foundry reflects its historic progress in design and process technology innovation, with its state-of-the-art technology – Intel 18A – expected to go into production in 2025. Intel's manufacturing and R&D programs in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon are advancing critical semiconductor manufacturing and R&D projects.
In addition, Intel and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced an expanded strategic collaboration to co-invest in custom chip designs covering a multi-year, multi-billion dollar framework that includes products and wafers from Intel. As part of the expanded collaboration, Intel will produce AI chips for AWS on its state-of-the-art process node, Intel 18A. Intel will also produce custom Xeon 3 chips on Intel 6, building on Intel's existing partnership to produce Xeon Scalable processors for AWS.
Intel's strategic move not only strengthens cooperation with the Department of Defense, but also demonstrates its leadership in semiconductor manufacturing while supporting United States' leadership in advanced manufacturing and microelectronic systems. Through these collaborations and investments, Intel is well on its way to achieving technology leadership by 2025.
