WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both R-Idaho) today commended the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center on its Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) designation. The Inland Northwest’s American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center has been selected as a Tech Hub as a result of Risch’s legislation, the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act.

The CHIPS for America Act will restore semiconductor manufacturing back to American soil by increasing federal incentives to stimulate advanced chip manufacturing, enable cutting-edge research and development, secure the supply chain and bring greater transparency to the microelectronics ecosystem, create American jobs, and ensure long-term national security. The legislation created the Tech Hubs program to create regional opportunities to create and produce these technologies.

Idaho is a leader in innovation and manufacturing with two – the Inland Northwest’s American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Tech Hub and the Intermountain-West Consortium Tech Hub – calling it home.

“Semiconductor production can and should be done in America, and the Inland Northwest is the right place to develop and produce this critical technology,” said Risch. “I congratulate the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center on its Tech Hubs designation. This selection is crucial to the Inland Northwest and will enable a strong domestic supply chain.”

"The Tech Hub program invests in Idaho students and industries as it drives regional innovation and job creation in a growing field needed to advance American competitiveness in a global marketplace,” said Crapo. “This investment will allow Idaho to further create a destination for aerospace modernization and suppliers, advancing the U.S. aerospace supply chain from our backyard.”

The American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Tech Hub aims to develop new domestic supply chains to meet the immediate demand for high-rate production of advanced composite aerostructures in defense and commercial markets. The Intermountain-West Nuclear Energy Consortium Tech Hub aims to position the West as a global leader in advanced nuclear energy.

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