The CHIPS Act (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act) is likely to be severely impacted by DOGE, notes the author of this post CHIPS Act dies because employees are fired – NIST CHIPS people are probationary on SemiWiki, an open forum for semiconductor professionals.
The CHIPS Act was passed to advance US silicon supply chain security, R&D and stability. The post cites informed sources as reporting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is preparing to cut 497 people, including 74 postdocs, 57% of CHIPS staff focused on incentives, and 67% of CHIPS staff focused on R&D. The post also notes that President Trump has also not yet announced a nominee to head up NIST.
Willy Leichter, CMO, AppSOC, offers perspective:
“As the Trump administration continues to indiscriminately hack its way through federal agencies, the latest victim appears to be NIST, reportedly losing at least 500 staff. Using the logic of “last in, first out,” DOGE is ignoring the merits of employee roles or projects, and simply terminating anyone they can easily dump. The other mandate seems to be to kill any initiative of the Biden administration, regardless the context or value. On the chopping block are the new AI Safety Institute, tasked with ensuring safety of AI models and systems, and the Chips for America program intended to protect sensitive chips technology from foreign (largely Chinese) theft. This comes on top of dismantling public/provide collaboration with the Cyber Safety Review Boards.
“NIST provides a critical backbone for all cybersecurity with essential resources such as the National Vulnerability Database. The agency is small by federal standards with only 3,400 employees. Cutting 500 jobs is about 15% of the total workforce – an enormous cut, at a time when cyber risks are accelerating and direct attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure and government systems have never been higher. AI is also a massive security wild card, and destroying important government safety checks could be devastating. The net effect will be to demoralize a critical and highly respected agency, embolden our adversaries to ratchet up their attacks, and put all of us at a direct financial and security risk.”
This is another short sighted and frankly stupid move by Trump and Elon Musk that will only result in the USA being hurt in the process. You have to wonder when these two will figure that out. I’m guessing that they will only when it’s way too late.
CHIPS Act At Risk Because Of DOGE
Posted in Commentary with tags CHIPS, NIST on February 26, 2025 by itnerdThe CHIPS Act (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act) is likely to be severely impacted by DOGE, notes the author of this post CHIPS Act dies because employees are fired – NIST CHIPS people are probationary on SemiWiki, an open forum for semiconductor professionals.
The CHIPS Act was passed to advance US silicon supply chain security, R&D and stability. The post cites informed sources as reporting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is preparing to cut 497 people, including 74 postdocs, 57% of CHIPS staff focused on incentives, and 67% of CHIPS staff focused on R&D. The post also notes that President Trump has also not yet announced a nominee to head up NIST.
Willy Leichter, CMO, AppSOC, offers perspective:
“As the Trump administration continues to indiscriminately hack its way through federal agencies, the latest victim appears to be NIST, reportedly losing at least 500 staff. Using the logic of “last in, first out,” DOGE is ignoring the merits of employee roles or projects, and simply terminating anyone they can easily dump. The other mandate seems to be to kill any initiative of the Biden administration, regardless the context or value. On the chopping block are the new AI Safety Institute, tasked with ensuring safety of AI models and systems, and the Chips for America program intended to protect sensitive chips technology from foreign (largely Chinese) theft. This comes on top of dismantling public/provide collaboration with the Cyber Safety Review Boards.
“NIST provides a critical backbone for all cybersecurity with essential resources such as the National Vulnerability Database. The agency is small by federal standards with only 3,400 employees. Cutting 500 jobs is about 15% of the total workforce – an enormous cut, at a time when cyber risks are accelerating and direct attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure and government systems have never been higher. AI is also a massive security wild card, and destroying important government safety checks could be devastating. The net effect will be to demoralize a critical and highly respected agency, embolden our adversaries to ratchet up their attacks, and put all of us at a direct financial and security risk.”
This is another short sighted and frankly stupid move by Trump and Elon Musk that will only result in the USA being hurt in the process. You have to wonder when these two will figure that out. I’m guessing that they will only when it’s way too late.
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