The United States Departments of Commerce (DoC) and Defense (DoD) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to expand collaboration to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor defense industrial base. The agreement will increase information sharing between the Departments to facilitate close coordination on the CHIPS for America’s incentives program, ensuring that their respective investments position the U.S. to produce semiconductor chips essential to national security and defense programs.  

The MOA is a crucial step forward in implementing the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, a key part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The MOA will advance this agenda to strengthen manufacturing and supply chains here at home, solidify America’s global leadership, and protect long-term national security.

“This agreement is an important step forward in increasing the capacity and resiliency of our domestic semiconductor industrial base,” said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, who signed the MOA on behalf of the Department of Defense. “It is essential for DoD and DoC to consult one another to ensure we are making complementary investments that support a robust semiconductor industrial base. Both Departments are working together to expand domestic semiconductor production capacity in a coordinated fashion.”

“Advancing U.S. national security is a top priority. Our Departments must work together and align on where and how we are making investments to strengthen the U.S. industrial base,” said CHIPS Program Office Director Michael Schmidt, who signed the MOA on behalf of the Department of Commerce. “This agreement will enable our teams to coordinate the national security review of applications, produce semiconductor chips in America that our military relies on, and bolster our domestic supply chain resiliency.”

By aligning priorities and decision-making, the MOA will enable a more synchronized approach to promoting a robust and resilient semiconductor supply chain. Specific areas of consultation identified in the MOA include sharing information on the semiconductor needs of the Defense Industrial Base, the investment priorities of DoD and each military service, the existing and planned investments to sustain mature and legacy chip capabilities for current defense programs, and funding to support emerging technologies that are critical to future U.S. national security programs.

The MOA will also facilitate collaboration on potential investment applications to ensure DoC and DoD are making complementary decisions that maximize federal investments under the CHIPS Incentive Program and DoD Defense Production Act and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment funds.