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Tomorrow’s tech policy conversations today

A 300mm computer wafer manufactured by the Japanese firm Fuijitsu is displayed.
May 14, 2019, Tokyo, Japan - Japan's computer giant Fujitsu unveils a 300mm wafer which has the CPU chips with 48-core and 2-assistant core Arm architecture "A64FX" processor at Fujitsu's high-tech exhibition Fujitsu Forum 2019 in Tokyo on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Fujitsu and Riken are developing the government-backed next generation supercomputer called Post-K computer, 100 times greater performance of K computer.    (Photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO) No Use China. No Use Taiwan. No Use Korea. No Use Japan.
A 300mm wafer manufactured by the Japanese firm Fuijitsu is displayed on May 14, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO)

A global shortage of semiconductors has policymakers wondering how government can work with industry to spur production. Such collaboration has possible precedent in the 1987 launch of Sematech, a consortium that revitalized the U.S. chipmaking industry. In this episode of MITRE Engenuity’s Circuit Talk, Dr. Nadia Schadlow and Pavneet Singh sit down with, Dan Armbrust, the co-founder and director of Silicon Catalyst, a semiconductor incubator, to discuss the launch of Sematech and the partnership between the U.S. government and the semiconductor industry that led to its creation.