Federal Announcements

The Biden-Harris Administration will announce new commitments to workforce development from the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Sprint. The Sprint, which First Lady Jill Biden announced in May and the Administration kicked off in October, is an intensive drive to build a diverse, skilled pipeline of workers for good advanced manufacturing jobs, including union jobs, many of which do not require a four-year college degree.

The Department of Defense awarded $46.2 million to GreenSource Fabrication LLC (GreenSource) via the Defense Production Act Investment Program. The award will enhance existing production capabilities at a manufacturing facility of state-of-the-art integrated circuits substrate, high-density interconnect and ultra-high-density interconnect, and advanced packaging.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded nearly $3 million to 15 small businesses in nine states under the Small Business Innovation Research Program. The funding will go to research and development and commercialization projects to support a variety of technology-based programs such as advances in semiconductors, drug development and flexible electronics manufacturing.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program showcased technologies that will keep servicemembers combat effective in extreme temperatures. The event featured technologies generated by the U.S. Department of Defense's Manufacturing Innovation Institute member companies that won the Point-of-Need Manufacturing Challenge held in March 2023 by proposing solutions to the Department's operational constraints in extreme cold temperatures.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service released proposed guidance on the section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit established by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is already creating good-paying American jobs by spurring a U.S. manufacturing boom in communities across the country, strengthening America’s energy security, and incentivizing onshoring of clean energy components and critical minerals in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to enhance the National Apprenticeship System by modernizing regulations for Registered Apprenticeships.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and BAE Systems Electronic Systems, a business unit of BAE Systems, Inc., have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide approximately $35 million in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act to support the modernization of the company’s Microelectronics Center, a mature-node production facility in Nashua, New Hampshire.

The U.S. Department of Education announced $93 million in grant awards to 20 colleges and universities to support research and development at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions. Southern University and A&M College received an award to progress to R1 through establishing multidisciplinary research centers focused on advanced manufacturing and biological sciences.

The U.S. Department of Energy released a notice of its proposed guidance and a request for public comment on its proposed interpretation of the statutory definition of “foreign entity of concern” (FEOC) in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is designed to limit the participation of FEOCs within domestic battery supply chains, particularly within government-supported programs, and bolster the growth of domestic and friend-shored battery materials processing and manufacturing.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $275 million for seven projects to strengthen clean energy supply chains and accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing in seven states across the nation. Each project positions the U.S. to enhance its global competitiveness and national security by building domestic supply chains for existing and emerging technologies, built with American labor and materials.