The U.S. government is seeking to award Intel Corp. with a $3.5 billion contract to build advanced semiconductors for military and intelligence programs.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the contract is part of a spending bill currently circulating the U.S. House of Representatives. It would establish Intel as a semiconductor powerhouse in the defense market and join GlobalFoundries as a domestic supplier of these chips — something the government has been seeking since the inception of the CHIPS and Science Act.
Pure-play foundry GlobalFoundries (GF) last year became a Department of Defense (DoD) trusted supplier giving it the ability to manufacture security chips and other defense related technology for the government. Later last year, the DoD awarded GF with a $3.1 billion, 10-year contract to build chips for the aerospace and defense industry.
The funding
The $3.5 billion funding would run over three years and would come from the money allotted from the CHIPS Act.
Intel is also set to receive a total CHIPS Act incentive package of more than $10 billion that includes both grants and loans, it has been reported. The report was unclear if this $3.5 billion is part of the overall $10 billion or if this is in addition to it.
GlobalFoundries earlier this year received $1.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding to help expanded its Malta, New York, fab, build a new fab in Malta and expand its Essex Junction, Vermont facility.
More than 600 companies have expressed interest in the funding and have requested more than $70 billion in federal subsidies from the law — about twice as much of the funding that is available.
Other companies that have received funding include $35 million to BAE Systems and $162 million to Microchip Technology.
