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The semiconductor shortage that began in 2020 affected industries across the world, from electronics to automobiles to medical equipment. But in the defense industry, the effect was outsized because so much of its equipment today relies on semiconductors.
The critical nature of semiconductors helps explain why defense firm Lockheed Martin partnered with semiconductor giant GlobalFoundries this month with the goal of locking down domestic production of semiconductors.
The partnership will “increase the security, reliability, and resiliency of domestic supply chains for national security systems” and enable Lockheed Martin “to more quickly and affordably produce secure solutions that increase the competitiveness and national security of the United States,” according to Lockheed Martin’s statement.
Additionally, both companies’ statements said the partnership will “explore critical needs in semiconductor innovation and secure manufacturing across a range of advanced and next-generation chip technologies,” while also working to produce chips faster and more affordably.
The semiconductor industry is centered overseas, particularly in Taiwan and South Korea, but Covid and the resulting supply-chain crisis made a clear argument for domesticating the highly specialized industry.
The collaboration between GlobalFoundries and Lockheed Martin is largely the result of the 2022 passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is designed to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
The legislation provides $52.7 billion in funding for “American semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development.”
“These incentives will secure domestic supply, create tens of thousands of good-paying, union construction jobs and thousands more high-skilled manufacturing jobs, and catalyze hundreds of billions more in private investment,” the White House wrote in a fact sheet.
GlobalFoundries has the ability to manufacture “secure chips used in sensitive mission systems” in its New York and Vermont facilities, Reuters reported.