Failure crushes U.S. global leadership
Falan Yinug 16, Director, Industry Statistics and Economic Policy at the SIA, “HOW U.S. SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY STRENGTHENS OUR MILITARY ON THE BATTLEFIELD”, SIA Blog, 1/28/2016, http://blog.semiconductors.org/blog/how-us-semiconductor-technology-strengthens-our-military-on-the-battlefield
SIA frequently points out that semiconductors play a critical role in strengthening our country, including our national security. A concrete example comes from a new semiconductor developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that gives our military a measurable advantage in one critical arena of the modern battlefield: electronic warfare. As DARPA explains, the advance is an exceptionally high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that is enabled by 32 nanometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor technologies. This advance allows the ability to operate spectrum-dependent military capabilities such as communications and radar without allowing the enemy to disable or “jam” them. The development of this new semiconductor-enabled DARPA technology has a couple critical implications for policymakers. First, it underscores the strategic nature of the U.S. semiconductor industry to our country’s national security. As a recent Washington Post article describes, other “near peer” adversaries have strong electronic warfare capabilities, so to maintain global U.S. military leadership semiconductor technology will continue to play a critical role. As a result, the U.S. semiconductor industry must continue to maintain global industry leadership.