Members of the US Dept. of Defense and White House officials arrived at MIT’s Lincoln Lab in Lexington on Wednesday to award the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) $37.78 million to fund six new projects.
The Lincoln Lab, a federally funded research and development center that makes technologies to help aid national security, is one of over 200 academic institutions, research centers and startups that comprise NEMC’s member organizations.
“Lexington is a hub of innovation and tech with access to the best research universities on the planet,” Amos Hochstein, senior advisor to the President for energy and investment, told LexObserver. “So this is a natural collaboration for the federal government.”
As a part of NEMC, member organizations, such as the Lincoln Lab, University of Massachusetts Amherst and BAE Systems have been working to develop microelectronics — small electrical devices, such as the microchips in cell phones and computers, that store information.
By investing in those organizations, the US can increase its production of chips and semiconductors, which Hochstein told LexObserver is key in becoming a global leader in AI, electric vehicles, the energy transition and more.
“We should not be reliant on China or any other country,” he said. “And to do that we have to invest in research and the people.”
The government’s investment in the local lab’s work is funded by President Biden’s signature CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August of 2022, which offers increased investment in exploratory science and engineering research. As a part of that act, the Dept. of Defense established a national web of eight regional hubs — such as NEMC — called Microelectronics Commons (MC), in 2023.
NEMC’s multimillion-dollar award is a result of its participation in the first federal call for projects, where the eight hubs competed for additional government funding by submitting concepts. NEMC, which is led by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, submitted 15 proposals in December of 2023 and received funding for six. Those projects cover five of the six “crucial technology execution areas” outlined by the National Security Technology Accelerator — the organization that helps NEMC execute its MC projects alongside the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division. Those crucial areas include:
- 5G/6G Technology
- Artificial Intelligence Hardware
- Quantum Technology
- Electromagnetic Warfare
- Commercial Leap Ahead
Of the $269 million awarded to the nation’s eight MC hubs, NEMC was awarded the most funding for its projects. In total, the funding will support 33 projects across the eight hubs.
“The NEMC Hub is creating research and partnerships that will have long-lasting, positive impacts on our national security, bring more of this critical chip research back to the US and our region, and result in the development of cutting-edge tools that will help protect our country and empower our service members stationed around the world,” Governor Maura Healey said in the state’s press release.
The Lincoln Lab, which first opened in 1951 and is located on 75 acres abutting the eastern border of Hanscom Air Force Base in Lexington, does more than just contribute to NEMC. It also conducts research in areas such as cybersecurity, biotechnology, autonomous systems and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief systems. In the 2023 fiscal year, about 4,025 MIT employees and 500 subcontracted personnel worked at the nearby Lab, including many Lexington residents.
“The state of Massachusetts really has a remarkable capacity to bring together different elements of research and there’s so much excellence within Lincoln Labs,” Hochstein told LexObserver. “This is going to lead to the next level of innovation.”
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