New federal funding is expected to greatly accelerate a move on behalf of Arizona State University to build a comprehensive, high-tech microelectronics hub.
The Department of Defense has announced that it is awarding the $39.8 million in funding for the construction of what is being called the “Southeast Advanced Prototyping Hub.”
The facility, according to ASU sources, will be designed to house the latest research in such areas as cellular communications, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence hardware.
In a statement, ASU President Michael Crow said the new hub will be the “first major national security-oriented research and development laboratory ever built in the state of Arizona.”
The project is one of eight such hubs slated to be built on the campuses of eight different institutions of higher learning across the country, with the research at each hub devoted to advancing the Defense Department’s technical capabilities.
The hubs, said Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, “will tackle many challenges relevant to the Department of Defense’s missions, to get the most cutting-edge microchips into systems our troops use every day.”
Among those systems, continued Hicks, are “ships, planes, tanks, long-range munitions, communications gear, sensors and much more.”
Roughly $238 million in funding for the hubs projects is coming out the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, which was passed by Congress last summer.
Arizona State University was always thought to be in the running for Defense Department hub funding, both because of its reputation as a cutting-edge research institute and its location.
Earlier this year, Sally Morton, executive vice president of the school’s Knowledge Enterprise program, remarked during a campus workshop that the Southwest is “already one of the nation’s key centers for microelectronics activity.”
“It’s home to some of the leading semiconductor producers and suppliers, major defense contractors, world-class universities and research institutes, and a vibrant startup community,” added Morton.
By Garry Boulard
