Liesl Folks chairs national committee report on semiconductor strategy

Liesl Folks, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director for semiconductor strategy at the University of Arizona College of Engineering, contributed to a new report for the U.S. Department of Defense regarding semiconductor technologies strategy.

Folks is the chair of the Committee on Global Microelectronics: Models for the Department of Defense in Semiconductor Public–Private Partnerships, which wrote the report for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The report stresses the need for the D.O.D. to prioritize access to advanced semiconductor technologies to remain competitive in the global semiconductor ecosystem.

"The United States is heavily dependent on other nations for both commercial and defense semiconductor needs, which has created a truly challenging environment for DOD and sometimes frustrated its efforts to be quick and innovative,” Folks said. “There is an urgency now for DOD to modernize, become nimbler, support new advances, more flexibly engage with the microelectronics sector, and reap the resulting cost and technological benefits.”

The success of DOD’s microelectronics strategy will be determined largely by its ability to partner with the private sector, the report says.