To Lead in AI, the US Needs a Silicon Revolution
“The past two administrations have taken some extraordinary steps to maintain an edge in both chipmaking and AI, two fields that are inextricably and intricately entwined. The US and its allies have restricted exports of cutting-edge chips and silicon-manufacturing equipment to key geopolitical rivals (aka China). In 2022, the US also passed the CHIPS Act, legislation that will pour $280 billion into bringing more microchip manufacturing back to American soil.
Laurie E. Locascio, undersecretary of standards and technology at the Department of Commerce and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, helps oversee the government’s chip investments. She tells WIRED that it is crucial to invent new chip designs and manufacturing techniques to ensure the US’s technological preeminence in AI. She adds that chip packaging—the process of combining components in new ways to boost performance—may be especially vital to the next wave of AI.” (Wired)
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.
- Max Space reinvents expandable habitats with a 17th-century twist, launching in 2026
- Alphabet X spinoff partners with Arc’teryx to bring ‘everyday’ exoskeleton to market
- Vast plans microgravity lab on its Haven-1 private space station
- AI startups ramp up federal lobbying efforts
- ARPA, DARPA, & the solid-state batteries of the future
- Another fourth-generation nuclear reactor begins construction in the U.S.
- Gene-editing drugs are moving from lab to clinic at lightning speed
- With a landmark launch, the Pentagon is finally free of Russian rocket engines
- DARPA brings next-gen US microelectronics manufacturing closer to reality
- NIST releases a tool for testing AI model risk
- Physicists report new insights into exotic particles key to magnetism
- A Band-Aid for the heart? New 3D printing method makes this, and much more, possible
- ‘Like magic.’ AI determines the structure of small molecule drugs and catalysts, even with fuzzy data
- Stacked up against the rest: 2D nano-semiconductors advancing quantum technology
- Scientists identify new class of semiconductor nanocrystals
- Researchers develop general framework for designing quantum sensors
- New study simulates gravitational waves from failing warp drive
- New aerospace and building materials could repair themselves thanks to fungi and bacteria
- Twisted carbon nanotubes could achieve significantly better energy storage than advanced lithium-ion batteries
- A blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90% of the time, study finds
- Applied Carbon raises $21.5M Series A for robots that convert plant waste to CO2-capturing biochar
- Noze, a breath-based diagnostics company, secures $5M equity investment from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- U.S. invests $67 million in national research security centers
- Star Catcher Industries raises $12.25M to launch a space solar network
- TS Conductor raises $60M to produce high-capacity power cables that can help speed the energy transition.
- Applied Materials, a semiconductor company, denied US Chips Grant for $4B project in Silicon Valley
- Gates-backed fusion power startup Type One raises $53.5M
- Axle Energy, a startup integrating renewable energy sources into grids, raised a $9M seed round
- Outpace Bio raises $30M to design next generation cell therapies
- Energy management platform Greenely raised an $8.7M Series A
- Sora Fuel raises $6M to help carbon dioxide power planes
- Lithium-ion power solutions company UgoWork raises $51M
- Renewables developer Avantus secures $522M to accelerate solar and storage projects
- US independent power producter BrightNight has secured a $440M investment
Over 100 VCs pledge support for Kamala Harris / Should humanity build a doomsday vault on the Moon? / What could a future sovereign Mars economy look like? / A cave discovered on the moon opens up new opportunities for settlement by humans / Planted bomb, remote control and AI: How the Mossad killed Hamas’ leader in Iran / Scientist Wants to Block the Sun to Cool the Earth / The Genomic Code: The genome instantiates a generative model of the organism / There are 2,000-plus dead rockets in orbit—here’s a rare view of one / How America built an AI tool to predict Taliban attacks / Hundred Rabbits is a small collective exploring the failability of modern tech / Mathematicians discover impossible problem in Super Mario games