To direct the Director of National Intelligence to award contracts or grants, or enter into transactions other than contracts, to encourage microelectronics research in support of artificial intelligence.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8763 To direct the Director of National Intelligence to award contracts or grants, or enter into transactions other than contracts, to encourage microelec- tronics research in support of artificial intelligence. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 17, 2020 Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself and Mr. STEWART) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Permanent Select Committee on In- telligence A BILL To direct the Director of National Intelligence to award contracts or grants, or enter into transactions other than contracts, to encourage microelectronics research in sup- port of artificial intelligence. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SEEDLING INVESTMENT IN NEXT-GENERATION 3 MICROELECTRONICS IN SUPPORT OF ARTIFI- 4 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 6 (1) developing faster, more energy efficient, and 7 more resilient computing is important to the future 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8763.IH H8763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8763 IH of the national security of the United States and the 1 leadership by the United States in artificial intel- 2 ligence; and 3 (2) multidisciplinary teams co-designing micro- 4 electronics for artificial intelligence will lead to un- 5 precedented capabilities that will help ensure that 6 the United States maintains its superiority in this 7 worldwide competition for economic and national se- 8 curity. 9 (b) AWARDS FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 10 The Director of National Intelligence, acting through the 11 Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects 12 Activity, shall award contracts or grants, or enter into 13 transactions other than contracts, to encourage microelec- 14 tronics research. 15 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—The Director shall award con- 16 tracts or grants to, or enter into transactions other than 17 contracts with, entities under subsection (b) to carry out 18 any of the following: 19 (1) Advanced engineering and applied research 20 into novel computing models, materials, devices, ar- 21 chitectures, or algorithms to enable the advancement 22 of artificial intelligence and machine learning. 23 (2) Research efforts to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8763.IH H8763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8763 IH (A) overcome challenges with engineering 1 and applied research of microelectronics, includ- 2 ing with respect to the physical limits on tran- 3 sistors, electrical interconnects, and memory 4 elements; or 5 (B) promote long-term advancements in 6 computing technologies, including by fostering a 7 unified and multidisciplinary approach encom- 8 passing research and development into algo- 9 rithm design, computing architectures, micro- 10 electronic devices and circuits, and the chem- 11 istry and physics of new materials. 12 (3) Any other activity the Director determines 13 would promote the development of microelectronics 14 research. 15 (d) AWARD AMOUNTS.—In awarding contracts or 16 grants, or entering into transactions other than contracts, 17 under subsection (b), the Director may award not more 18 than a total of $15,000,000. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8763.IH H8763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS