By Cameron Chehreh, vice president and general manager of public sector at Intel
Artificial intelligence has become an integral part of our daily lives, with far-reaching potential impacts on government and public services. With AI, mission teams can accelerate data analysis and make faster, more informed decisions from the front lines to city streets.
This surge in AI technology has sparked a revolution in computing, ushering in the era of “Siliconomy” — an evolving economy enabled by the magic of silicon where semiconductors are essential to maintaining and enabling modern economies. This new era emphasizes the exponential leaps in computing technology and capabilities needed to speed development and drive innovation — from client and edge to network and cloud.
However, to meet the increasing demand for processing power, we need to ensure a more resilient and balanced global semiconductor supply chain. Today, 80 percent of the world’s semiconductors are produced in Asia. It is essential for national security interests that depend on reliable, resilient semiconductor access.
Fortunately, progress is being made. To diversify the supply chain, the CHIPS and Science Act is investing $53 billion in the U.S. semiconductor industry. A year after the Act was signed into law, U.S. companies invested over $166 billion in semiconductors and electronics manufacturing. Meanwhile, at least 50 community colleges have announced programs to help American workers access good-paying jobs in the semiconductor industry.
Also, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the CHIPS Women in Construction Framework, as part of the ongoing Million Women in Construction initiative that aims to expand the American construction workforce by doubling the number of women in construction over the next decade.
These advancements provide government agencies with the necessary computing resources and end-to-end capabilities needed to drive digitally-enabled government functions.
Let’s explore how emerging foundational technologies assist agencies in balancing opportunity and responsibility and creating a sustainable, resilient digital mission infrastructure that drives this era of exponential AI growth.
Bringing AI everywhere
AI is already proving its value across government. For instance, U.S. Customs and Border Protection utilizes AI to pre-position resources at ports, effectively managing the flow of goods and services securely and efficiently.
These cloud-to-edge infrastructures hinge on the ability to infuse AI capabilities across all technologies.
Currently, Intel is the only semiconductor manufacturer with the full breadth of hardware and software capabilities to bring AI everywhere, making it more accessible and easier to integrate at scale across the continuum of workloads. This includes manufacturing processors designed for AI, providing an easy path to AI in the cloud and delivering tools for securely powering AI deployments at the edge. Technologies that are ready to handle the most demanding government workloads at a lower total cost of ownership.
For example, recent innovations include the 5th Gen Intel Xeon processor with AI acceleration in every core, AI-enabled Intel PCs and the Intel Developer Cloud, which allows developers to build, deploy, run, manage and scale edge and AI solutions on standard hardware with cloud-like simplicity. Intel has also partnered with over 100 independent software vendors, or ISVs, who are optimizing their software for these new innovations.
These new products bring AI computing power to where the data is generated and used — across network, edge and digital mission infrastructure.
Modernizing IT infrastructure with sustainability in mind
Everything agencies do to advance the future of computing and enable the mission must also be achieved with sustainability in mind. However, the Siliconomy presents complex sustainability challenges. The necessity for rare earth metals and minerals, unlimited power, energy, cooling and chemicals all contribute to the government and humanity’s carbon footprints.
As semiconductor manufacturers grow their operations to meet increased demand and agencies strive to achieve government sustainability goals, steps must be taken to make computing more sustainable.
Intel has a proud record of sustainable manufacturing excellence. We have reduced the environmental impact of our operations so the public sector and others can reduce their own environmental impact and exceed sustainability targets by years, even decades. Over the past decade, Intel has avoided over 80 percent of our cumulative Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions and is committed to achieving net-zero GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2040, among other sustainability targets.
Building the future of silicon
As the demand for chips skyrockets, agencies need a reliable supply of advanced, high-performance and high-quality semiconductors. In addition to its pledge to have 50 percent of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. and the E.U. by 2030, Intel recently launched the world’s first sustainable systems foundry designed for the AI era and delivered from a resilient global supply.
The Intel Foundry gives government agencies access to domestic, state-of-the-art process and packaging technology geared for producing AI-enabled processors.
For instance, the Intel Foundry supports the U.S. Department of Defense’s goal of transitioning to cutting-edge domestic foundry to safeguard national security. As the primary contractor for both RAMP-C and SHIP programs, Intel enables U.S.-based defense customers to fabricate leading-edge custom integrated circuits required for critical DOD systems and commercial products within the United States, furthering America’s leadership in process technology research and development.
In addition, Intel is delivering multichip package prototypes created under the Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging program in partnership with the U.S. government and BAE, six quarters ahead of schedule, reconfirming our commitment to the DOD’s mission to return the U.S. to a leading role in the microelectronics ecosystem.
Powering the Siliconomy
Intel is proud to be a leading contributor to the Siliconomy. It’s an era that will see us advance Moore’s Law, create the future of silicon needed to engineer and deliver solutions for the most demanding missions and return process technology leadership to the U.S. by 2025.
The Siliconomy will push the boundaries of what’s possible, create solutions to the government’s biggest challenges, speed time to value and improve the lives of every person on the planet. This is the magic of silicon.
Learn more about the Siliconomy.
