40+ Business and Academic Leaders Urge Congress to Act on Semiconductor Crisis

January 13, 2022

New York State Congressional Delegation
United States Senate
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Members of the New York Congressional Delegation:

The ongoing global semiconductor shortage is disrupting our supply chains, impacting consumers and businesses, and threatening our national security. This shortage exposes the lack of sustained domestic investment in the semiconductor industry and highlights the need for the United States to reinvest to guarantee a steady and secure supply of chips for long into the future.

We are a group of academics, businesses, government and non-profit leaders who are committed to leveraging existing semiconductor infrastructure in New York to combat the current shortage. Together, we urge you to pass the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which, among other things, would fully fund the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act (CHIPS Act). Funding the CHIPS Act will accelerate investments in new manufacturing facilities, boost domestic semiconductor production, and establish a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program.

The NSTC will serve as a hub to marshal semiconductor expertise and resources to deliver much-needed breakthroughs in chip innovation and production, and it will support a steady supply of chips now and long into the future. An advanced research hub like the NSTC will require a unique innovation ecosystem that is ‘prototype ready’ with first-class resources, scientists, facilities, and partners who can work quickly and efficiently to ease the global chip shortage and secure a strong domestic chip supply chain for the future.

As Senator Chuck Schumer said earlier this year and New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently wrote in Bloomberg, the NSTC needs a proven chip innovation ecosystem, which has a sophisticated infrastructure that is already operational and is backed by partner companies, academic institutions, and a highly skilled workforce. For instance, the Albany Nanotech Complex is the product of billions of dollars in public and private investment over two decades and now hosts more than 2,700 industry experts, staff, students, and faculty who have leveraged the center to produce leading edge semiconductor innovations such as the world’s first 2 nanometer node chip technology.

We have no time to waste. For the United States to retain its semiconductor leadership, we must act with speed and the NSTC should use existing assets to produce results quickly. To enable fast results, our group includes universities and academic institutions in New York and across the United States to strengthen the semiconductor R&D pipeline, cultivate a diverse and talented semiconductor workforce and translate technology into tangible business and consumer solutions.

How we rise to the challenge of building resiliency back into our semiconductor supply chain is a defining moment not only for the nation, but also New York State, to retain our position as a leader in semiconductor innovation, research expertise and the workforce of the future. Additionally, New York is uniquely positioned to support new American semiconductor fabs, as we have more shovel-ready sites than any other state and have already established the infrastructure needed for new chip fabrication.

That is why we urge the New York congressional delegation to support R&D, innovation and manufacturing by fully funding the CHIPS Act in USICA. In doing so, we can cement the United States’ leadership in the semiconductor industry and strengthen our supply chains, economy, and national security for years to come.

We look forward to working with you on this shared goal.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey B. Shealy, PhD, MBA
Founder & CEO
Akoustis, Inc.

Daniel Leibholz
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
Analog Devices

Benjamin Bunday
President
AMAG Consulting

Ron Kelly
Chief Executive Officer
Ambature

Vincent Guerriero
Sr. Director, Silicon Product Group – META Center
Applied Materials

Tom Kelly
Chief Executive Officer
Blue Cheetah

Doon Gibbs
President
Brookhaven Science Associates

Mark Eagan
President & Chief Executive Officer
Center for Economic Growth

Joshua C. Brumberg, Ph.D.
Dean of the Sciences, The Graduate Center
City University of New York

John L. Sheff
Director of Public & Industry Affairs
Danfoss

Hope Knight
Acting Commissioner
Empire State Development

James A. O’Neill, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Entegris

Dr. Thomas Caulfield
Chief Executive Officer
GlobalFoundries, U.S., Inc.

Heather Hage
President & CEO
Griffiss Institute

Brian Sapp
Vice President and General Manager
i3 Microsystems

Dr. Darío Gil
Senior Vice President and Director of Research
IBM

Loria Brown Gordon, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Du Bois – Harvey Honors College
Jackson State University

Dennis Ralston
Senior Director, Government Relations and Cooperative R&D
KLA

Mark Campito
Chief Executive Officer
Marktech Optoelectronics

Vladimir Bulovic
Director
MIT.nano

Steven J. DiMeo
President
Mohawk Valley EDGE

Christine B Whitman
Chairman & CEO
Mosaic Microsystems LLC

Tim Vehling
Senior Vice President, Product & Business Development
Mythic

Ryan Silva
Executive Director
New York State Economic Development Council

Shahin Sharifzadeh
Co-CEO
NexGen Power Systems Inc.

Paul Kelly
Chief Operating Officer
NY CREATES

Hassane El-Khoury
President and CEO
onsemi

Ganesh Subbarayan, Ph.D.
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Purdue University

Robert Hull, Ph.D.
Acting Vice President for Research, Henry Burlage Jr. Professor of Engineering, and Director of Center for Materials, Devices, and Integrated Systems
Material Science and Engineering Department
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Paul Farrar Jr.
Vice President Strategy
SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd

John Levy, Chief Executive Officer
Oleg Mukhanov, Chief Technical Officer
Seeqc

Johanna Duncan-Poitier
Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline
State University of New York System Administration

Shadi Sandvik, PhD
Provost-in-Charge
State University of New York System Administration

Bahgat Sammakia, PhD
Vice President of Research
State University of New York at Binghamton

Krishnaswami Srihari, PhD
Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Science
State University of New York at Binghamton

Jon Longtin, PhD
Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Stony Brook University-State University of New York

Rich Reeder, PhD
Vice President for Research
Stony Brook University-State University of New York

Mike O’Brien
Vice President
Synopsys, Inc.

Alexander Oscilowski
President, TEL Technology Center America
TEL

Mark Tolbert
President & CEO
Toptica Photonics, Inc.

Sameer Desai
Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations
TTM Technology

Venu Govindaraju, PhD
Vice President for Research and Economic Development
SUNY Distinguished Professor
University at Buffalo

Rashid Bashir
Dean, Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign