Trusted Foundry

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security Agency (NSA) require uninterruptible access to state-of-the-art design and manufacturing processes to produce custom integrated circuits designed specifically for military purposes. Under DODI 5200.39, integrated circuits in critical/essential systems need to be procured from trusted sources in order to avoid counterfeit, tampered, or sabotaged parts. Worldwide competition from foreign state-subsidized manufacturing facilities (foundries) is making fabless semiconductor companies the norm in the U.S. Sophisticated off-shore design and manufacturing facilities with engineering labor rates vastly less than engineering rates in the U.S. have resulted in outsourcing of electronics components and integrated circuits. These trends threaten the integrity and worldwide leadership of the U.S. semiconductor industry by eliminating many domestic on-shore suppliers and reducing access to trusted fabrication sources for advanced technology. These trends are of acute concern to the defense and intelligence community. Secure communications and cryptographic applications depend heavily upon high performance semiconductors where a generation of improvement can translate into a significant force multiplier and capability advantage. Important defense technology investments and demonstrations carry size, weight, power, and performance goals that can only be met through the use of the most sophisticated semiconductors. The Trusted Foundry program provides DoD and NSA with trusted state-of-the-art microelectronics design and manufacturing capabilities necessary to meet the performance and delivery needs of their customers. The program will also provide the Services with a competitive cadre of trusted suppliers that will meet the needs of their mission critical/essential systems for trusted integrated circuit components. NSA, in their role as the Trusted Access Program Office, has successfully looked to commercial sources to satisfy their requirements. Access to trusted suppliers is imperative to ongoing and future DoD/NSA systems, and most centrally, Trusted Foundry access is absolutely necessary to meet secure communication and cryptographic needs for state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2011
Source ID
0605140D8Z_5_0400_PB_2011
Change Summary Explanation
Service Agency Name
Office of Secretary Of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Circuits
  • Cost Analysis
  • Costs
  • Demonstrations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Integrated Circuits
  • Intellectual Property
  • Leading Edges
  • Manufacturing
  • National Security
  • Processing Equipment
  • Secure Communications
  • Semiconductors

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Industrial Economics
  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics

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