One thing that American politicians seem to agree on, despite their many other differences, is that to maintain economic and geopolitical dominance, the United States needs to assume technological leadership. How to ensure such leadership will be a key issue for the next US president and his staff.
The last two administrations have taken some extraordinary steps to maintain their advantage in two inseparably complex fields: semiconductor manufacturing and AI. The U.S. and its allies have restricted the export of cutting-edge semiconductor and silicon manufacturing equipment to its main geopolitical rival (i.e., China). In 2022, the U.S. also passed the Chip Manufacturing Act, which would commit $280 billion to further bring microchip manufacturing back to U.S. soil.
Laurie E. LoCascio, undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who helps oversee the government’s chip investments, told WIRED that inventing new chip designs and manufacturing techniques is crucial to ensuring America’s technological advantage in AI. She adds that chip packaging — the process of combining components in new ways to improve performance — may be especially important for the next generation of AI.
LoCascio recently spoke with WIRED senior writer Will Knight at the Commerce Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How have Generative AI and ChatGPT changed the US government’s microchip priorities?
During the COVID pandemic, we didn’t have access to the basic chips and technology that we rely on for everything. But now the conversation is changing. People are realizing that we need cutting edge chips. We are truly at the top of our game in AI, and AI is changing the landscape for a lot of companies. So now what’s important and on everyone’s mind is AI chips.
What does that actually mean when it comes to the CHIPS Act?
We don’t just want to bring today’s technology into the country. We need to be able to manufacture the next generation of innovation that comes out of our labs. We’ve always been at the forefront of innovation and creativity in this space. That’s our strength.
That’s why the CHIPS Act has two components: $11 billion for research and development and $39 billion for manufacturing. Those two components need to work together, because the reason these manufacturers want to stay in the United States is because of our ability to innovate. So we’re working with the research and development community to develop new types of technologies that can go right into manufacturing lines.
Faster AI chips are essential to AI companies’ efforts to build more powerful AI. How will that need impact next-generation manufacturing investments?
I think this has really focused our thinking in certain areas. For example, when we’re thinking about how to spend the $3 billion that’s related to “advanced packaging,” we’re really thinking about the AI problem. We understand how important packaging is going to be to this particular problem set. I think this has really focused our thinking in certain areas, both on the manufacturing side and on the R&D side.
Why is packaging so important for combining different components?
It may sound like a mundane topic, but packaging is enabling the development of three-dimensional chip architectures that will greatly improve the performance of AI chips and help drive the AI revolution. We announced $1.6 billion in funding intent, which is focused on many areas, but the power and thermal requirements associated with AI chips are very significant.