SENSE OF CONGRESS AFFIRMING THE IMPORTANCE OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT GENERATION SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES.

SEC. 241. SENSE OF CONGRESS AFFIRMING THE IMPORTANCE OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT GENERATION SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES.(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:(1) The next generation of weapons systems, battlefield sensors, and intelligence platforms will need to be lighter, more agile, consume less power, and have greater computational power, which can be achieved by decreasing the feature size of integrated circuits to the nanometer scale.124 STAT. 4176(2) There is a growing concern in the Department of Defense and the United States intelligence community over the offshore shift in development and production of high capacity semiconductors. Greater reliance on providers of semiconductors in the United States high technology industry would help mitigate the security risks of such an offshore shift.(3) The development of new manufacturing technologies is recognized in the semiconductor industry as critical to the development of the next generation of integrated circuits.(b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—(1) the United States should pursue research and development capabilities to take the lead in developing and producing the next generation of integrated circuits; and(2) the Department of Defense should continue to work with industry and academia in pursuing the research and development of advanced manufacturing techniques in support of the development of the next generation of integrated circuits needed for the requirements and specialized applications of the Department of Defense.