Pentagon swoops in to buy last-of-kind chips for B-2 bomber

Pentagon eyes spending billions to buy customized semiconductors for critical weapons like the B-2 bomber.

The $885 million was the only Pentagon-related exception that the White House budget office asked Congress to approve in its stopgap spending measure.

The Pentagon plans to place as much as $2 billion in rush orders by early next year for customized semiconductors used in critical weapons such as the B-2 bomber before the production line for them is shut down. Stars and Stripes reports. Continue reading original article

GlobalFoundries has sold the factory in Fishkill, N.Y., that produces the customized chips used in GPS-dependent systems, and the new owner won’t be making them.

The U.S. Department of Defense is confronting its looming supply crunch amid a global shortage of the chips used in consumer items from mobile phones to autonomous vehicles, markets where GlobalFoundries is expanding its production.

Under a stopgap spending bill passed by Congress, an initial $885 million in orders would be placed by 15 Dec. with U.S. contractors who depend on the semiconductors so that they can contract a substantial share of the total with GlobalFoundries.

Souce: Military & Aerospace Electronics