Midwest Universities Unite To Support US Chip Industry Revival

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: A dozen US midwestern research colleges and universities have signed up to a project intended to bolster the semiconductor and microelectronics industries with combined research and education to ensure work for their students in high-tech industries. The "Midwest Regional Network to Address National Needs in Semiconductor and Microelectronics" consists of a dozen institutions, made up of eight from Ohio, two from Michigan, and two from Indiana. Their stated aim is to support the onshoring efforts of the US semiconductor industry by addressing the need for research and a skilled workforce.

According to Wright State University, the network was formed in response to Intel's announcement that it planned to build two chip factories near Columbus, Ohio, and followed a two-day workshop in April hosted by the state. [...] However, the university network was also formed to help address the broader national effort to regain American leadership in semiconductors and microelectronics, or at least bring some of it back onshore and make the US less reliant on supplies of chips manufactured abroad.

The president of each institution has signed a memorandum of understanding to form the network, and the expectation is that the group will expand to include more than these dozen initial members. The intention is that the institutions taking part will be able to make use of each other's existing research, learning programs, capabilities, and expertise in order to boost their collective ability to support the semiconductor and microelectronics industry ecosystems. Challenges for the network include developing mechanisms to connect existing research, and training assets across the region, and developing a common information sharing platform to make it easier to identify opportunities for joint programming and research across the network. The institutions involved in the network include: Wright State University, Columbus State Community College, Lorain County Community College, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Purdue University, Sinclair Community College, University of Cincinnati, University of Dayton, University of Michigan, and the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Further reading: Biden Signs China Competition Bill To Boost US Chipmakers

Wonder how many have

[oldgraybeard]

Confucius Institutes on campus?

Re:

[waspleg]

Yea, that's a good question since they're open CCP conduits masquerading as cultural ambassadors. Of course, at least a few wumaos remain on /., as far as it's fallen from decades old popularity - not as many as like 6 months ago though ... wonder what happened.

Midwest Universities Unite to Eat From This Trough

[bunyip]

I think the title says it. These universities smell money, and they unite to get political support to slurp at the trough of government largess...

The problem in the US is that companies worship "finance" and use investment bankers to sell off their assets to keep the share prices high. Reward the executives in the name of "shareholder value".

OK, rant over...

Re:

[bunyip]

This is not one party or the other - both sides are equally guilty, so don't go there

It's also not something recent, it's been this way for decades. Defense contractors splatter their work across as many states as possible so that almost every senator has to vote for it. "The door hinges for this fighter jet are made in bum-f#%k (insert state here), we need to preserve jobs"

On a slightly different angle, that's why SpaceX is crapping on the traditional players, they're not playing the same game.

Re:

[sysrammer]

You're a one-trick pony.

Re:

[sysrammer]

Sure. But, the resources needed to do something are being made available. Is what they want to do useful? Is it more useful then doing something else? The big player's lobbyists are already lined up (and undoubtedly have been in the pipeline for months).

Re:

[Registered Coward v2]

I think the title says it. These universities smell money, and they unite to get political support to slurp at the trough of government largess....

Of course they do and that's why they form these groups. Th Big Ten (B1G) Academic Alliance takes in about a billion in research funding per school each year; compared to athletics, which takes in around a billion total, for all of the schools combined, in the B1G Conference. While football and basketball fans like to talk about how much those sports make, research is the big money maker and the 4 B1G schools in this project know how to tap into it.

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

Yup. When the government chooses winners you know it's going to end badly. When they roll out 18-wheelers full of cash to companies motivated to maximise shareholder value (snort), you can pretty much guarantee it's going to end badly. Taiwanese companies got ahead through government reform of policies encouraging the semiconductor industry and support for ITRI, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, not by handling out trailerloads of cash to the company's investors.

Chip manufacturing now more automated?

[Futurepower(R)]

Now, because automation has reduced the cost, there no reason to manufacture semiconductor products in countries with cheaper salaries?

Re:Chip manufacturing now more automated?

[ShanghaiBill]

Now, because automation has reduced the cost, there no reason to manufacture semiconductor products in countries with cheaper salaries?

It is not about "cheaper". It is not about economics at all.

It is about national security. America is critically dependent on semiconductors from Taiwan and Korea. Both are within airstrike range of China.

The purpose of the subsidies is to incentivize the construction of semiconductor fabs in America, so we have some eggs in other baskets.

Great!

[evil_aaronm]

This is all well and good until some fucking MBA once again decides that it's "cheaper" - labor; environmental cleanup; safety protocols; etc - to off-shore production, and we find ourselves in the same boat. If making chips is critical to national security, then maybe the feds need to run the plant so it's more like a service, rather than a business, like the USPS. They could still make money on it, but the overall goal would be to make chips in this country, and preserve our independence from foreign influences - as much as possible.

The endgame is war...

[VeryFluffyBunny]

...with China. Since China has nukes & advanced rocketry, it'll probably be more of a cold war.

Re:The endgame is war...

[waspleg]

China has been a hostile foreign actor for a long time. Our own business class asshats are the ones who have sold them whatever rope they didn't already steal to try to hang us with.

Re:

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Hostile? You may be forgetting a bit of Chinese history: Occupation, revolution & decades of "yellow peril" & racism to deal with.

Western countries, including the USA, believed that they could just treat China as a hyper-exploitative labour farm to outsource their manufacturing to & treat Chinese people as disposable (e.g. Remember the shockingly high suicide rates at Apple's manufacturing plants?) As it turns out, the Chinese govt have other plans (e.g. cultivating a burgeoning middle class

Surprised to not see University of Illinois

[alispguru]

it's the birthplace of HAL 9000 [wikipedia.org], after all...

get on the gravy train

[groobly]

Bottom tier "universities" jumping on the gravy train. No innovation will come out of this, except bigger houses for college execs.

Midwest Universities Unite To Support US Chip Indu

[AugustBlack]

Actually I agree with this. You shouldn't lure players with profits that they are unlikely to get. I believe that unscrupulous sites with online casinos, bets and other gambling often write about high profits that cannot be obtained in reality, and it misleads players. I play parimatch.in [slashdot.org] and I love that I don't get any unrealistic expectations here.