US Invests $825 Million in NSTC Facility with Focus on EUV Lithography Technology

The Biden administration has announced an $825 million investment to build a flagship facility for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) in Albany, New York. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Albany location will specialize in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology.

The NSTC is the premier research hub in the United States aimed at advancing semiconductor technology innovation, developing a skilled workforce to support these advancements, and fostering collaboration with the private sector and academia.

The NSTC’s first facility, named the "CHIPS for America Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Accelerator," will be established within the Albany Nanotech Complex, a high-tech facility exceeding 1.65 million square feet, managed by the nonprofit NY CREATES (New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science). As the name suggests, this project is funded by the CHIPS Act, marking the most significant investment in America’s semiconductor industry in the past 28 years.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated, "With this proposed flagship facility, the CHIPS Act will provide cutting-edge research and tools for the National Technology Center. Its launch represents a key milestone in securing America’s continued leadership in innovation and semiconductor R&D on the global stage."

EUV technology allows companies to push beyond the limits of Moore’s Law, which asserts that the number of transistors on an integrated chip doubles approximately every two years. With the latest processors now integrating over 100 billion transistors on a single chip, the industry needs to further advance EUV lithography to enable the placement of even more transistors within the same space.

Currently, ASML, a Dutch company, is the world’s only supplier of High-NA EUV equipment required for the production of the latest generation of chips.