Letter to the Honorable Ashton B. Carter, Secretary of the US Department of Defense - Call on Department of Defense to Create a $200 Million Manufacturing Innovation Institute in California

Letter

Dear Secretary Carter,

As members of the California delegation, we are writing to express our strong support for the California-led FlexTech Alliance application for the Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute (FHE-MII).

Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) is an emerging technology that has the potential to reshape the electronics industry. Electronic devices can now be printed and attached to flexible, conformal materials like fabric or curved surfaces. FHE applications are diverse, with private companies as well as the US military exploring FHEs for wearable electronics and smart electronics in consumer goods, healthcare, computers, telecommunications, and defense. At a time when other countries are investing heavily in flexible hybrid electronics, the Department of Defense Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute will serve as an important catalyst to bring together FHE expertise and technologies throughout our country and focus investment in this budding field.

This effort is being led by the FlexTech Alliance, a San Jose-based nonprofit trade association chartered to ensure a robust supply chain for flexible printable electronics, and includes a diverse partnership of California based private industry leaders -- including Qualcomm, Applied Materials, and Flextronics, trade associations -- including Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), and academic institutions -- including the University of California, San Diego; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Francisco; San Jose State University; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; and Stanford University. FlexTech Alliance has a 20-year history of partnering with the Department of Defense, other federal agencies, and the private sector to ensure a robust supply chain of flexible electronics in the United States and advance technologies critical to national security and commercial end users.

We believe that California is a natural and ideal location for this FHE Institute. Locating the institute in California will enable collaboration between California's IC industry and other leading technology companies, defense contractors, academic institutions, and end-users, bringing together the talent required for success and launching a new electronics revolution in our nation. The FHE-MII sited in California will grow the new FHE workforce, ensure a robust education pipeline, and yield a new industry sector aligned directly with California's semiconductor integrated circuit industry. The FlexTech Alliance application has over 70 team members from across the country and has already secured nonfederal funding commitments of more than 150% of the Department of Defense contribution. Flexible hybrid electronics is an exciting and game changing new field, and California is the ideal place for a Manufacturing Innovation Institute to ensure that this new electronics revolution continues to be led by the United States.

We strongly support the California-led FlexTech Alliance application and appreciate your full and fair consideration, in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.