Biden admin announces plan to shell out $285m for digital twins of semiconductors

Digital twins have proven to be a popular tool for everything from city planning to focus group research. Now, the US government wants to use these virtual replicas of physical objects to supercharge chip manufacturing.

The Biden administration announced this week that it’s seeking proposals for projects that develop digital twins of semiconductors, in hopes of a more collaborative and efficient design process. These projects will be part of a new institute under the Department of Commerce, with up to $285 million in funding through the CHIPS and Science Act, Biden’s multibillion-dollar legislative boost to the domestic semiconductor industry.

The call comes as the generative AI craze has led to soaring demand for AI-specific chips, while the design process has grown increasingly complex and difficult. Some companies are exploring how AI itself can be deployed toward improving this stage. The Biden administration said digital twins will help make this technology more viable, among other benefits such as increased remote collaboration and better testing.

“Digital twin technology can accelerate the costly and time-consuming work to develop the next generation of robust manufacturing for this extraordinarily complicated product,” Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement.

The CHIPS Act, passed in 2022, set aside $39 billion in domestic manufacturing incentives plus another $11 billion to be doled out for chip research and development. Funding for Commerce’s new Manufacturing USA Semiconductor Institute comes from the latter earmark.

Much of the impetus of the legislation is to spur semiconductor innovation at home and limit dependence on geopolitical rivals like China, as a matter of national security.

Commerce’s announcement said funded activities will include “basic and applied research related to semiconductor digital twin development; establishing and supporting shared physical and digital facilities; industry-relevant demonstration projects; and digital twin-related workforce training.” The program will host a daylong meeting for potential applicants on May 16.