U.S. Needs Big Bet on Chips

Analysts support post-silicon research effort

Rick Merritt, SiliconValley Bureau Chief, Nov. 02, 2016 – 

The U.S. government should launch a new multi-billion national research effort to define a post-silicon semiconductor industry.

The working group of semiconductor veterans the White House recently convened should recommend the initiative in its report expected early next year. It could give the next U.S. president a rare opportunity to kickstart an engine for a new golden age in high tech.

When it launched the working group, the Obama administration cited challenges the U.S. chip sector faces with the slowing pace of Moore's law and rising competition from China. The country is bankrolling its own industry with a multi-billion dollar fund.

While China promises to be a real threat to U.S. chip companies, the looming limits of today's semiconductor technology are a much larger common enemy. The U.S. has an opportunity to pioneer a path beyond the 3-5nm process technologies companies see at the distant edge of their road maps.

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