The US Commerce Department said it has reached a cooperative research and development agreement with Alphabet Inc’s Google to produce chips that researchers can use to develop new nanotechnology and semiconductor devices.
The deal was signed between the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Google.
The chips will be manufactured by semiconductor company SkyWater Technology at its Bloomington, Minnesota, semiconductor foundry, the department said on Tuesday.
Google will pay the initial cost of setting up production and will subsidize the first production run, according to the agreement. NIST, with university research partners, will design the circuitry for the chips, Reuters reported from Washington.
The Biden administration’s Chips and Science Act was recently passed by Congress and signed into law. It authorizes funding aimed at jump-starting the domestic production of semiconductors in response to supply-chain disruptions.
A string of companies has announced new semiconductor plants resulting from the passage of the legislation, which authorized about $52 billion in government subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and research, and an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth $24 billion.