Intel Adds Customers to Phase 2 of RAMP-C Program

Approximately two years prior, Intel inked a pact with the United States Department of Defense whereby Intel’s Foundry Services (IFS) would supply commercial foundry services for the first phase of the “Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes – Commercial project (RAMP-C).” The project aims to utilize commercial semiconductor foundries based in the US to fabricate the bespoke integrated circuits and commercial products required for the Defense Department’s critical systems. The overall goal of the RAMP-C project is to reinforce the supply chain security of the US government and augment the nation’s leadership in all aspects of integrated circuit design, fabrication, and packaging.

As the RAMP-C project segues into its second phase, customers will have the capability to develop and fabricate test chips using Intel’s 18A process and industry-standard electrical design and analysis tools, as well as Intellectual Property (IP), thereby preparing for product design tape-outs. Recently, Intel announced that, as part of the second phase of the RAMP-C project, its Foundry Services division will cater to two new clients, namely Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Beyond Intel, a consortium of companies, including IBM, Cadence, Synopsys, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Microsoft, will contribute their specialized knowledge and technology to the RAMP-C project. Presently, the Intel 18A process is still under development, and the RAMP-C project’s clients are in the throes of developing test chips.

In addition, the US Department of Defense authorized the second phase of Intel’s Advanced Heterogeneous Integration Prototype (SHIP) project, the first tranche of multi-chip package prototypes of which were delivered to BAE Systems in April 2023. This initiative enables the US government to exploit Intel’s advanced semiconductor packaging capabilities based in the US to develop innovative methodologies that ensure measurable security, heterogeneous integration, and testing of advanced packaging solutions.