The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) wants to see the U.S. double AI research and development funding annually to reach $32 billion per year by fiscal year 2026, according to the draft of the group’s report to Congress.
The NSCAI is set to submit the final version of the report on March 1, while a supporting “blueprint for action” document also calls for boosting microelectronics funding by around $30 billion over the next five years.
“Americans have not recognized the assertive role the government will have to play in ensuring the United States wins this innovation competition. And they have not contemplated the scale of public resources required to achieve it. Despite our private sector and university leadership in AI, the United States remains unprepared for the coming era,” the group writes in their report.
The push for $32 billion on AI R&D per year would bring federal spending to the same level as biomedical research, according to the group, with the report calling for the U.S. to spend at least one percent of GDP on overall R&D “to reinforce a base of innovation across scientific fields.”
NSCAI calls for additional the R&D funding to specifically support AI efforts at the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, NIH, NIST, NASA, and their newly-proposed National Technology Foundation.
“Amplified federal funding should prioritize AI R&D investments in areas critical to advance technology that will underpin future national security and economic stability, supporting areas that may not receive significant private sector investment,” the group writes.
To ensure the U.S. retains an edge in microelectronics development, NSCAI is calling for around $30 billion in additional funding over the next five years to bolster domestic manufacturing, which they say could help “attract more than five times as much private sector investment.”
“Additional federal funding on this scale will likely boost economic activity domestically and could add more than a hundred billion dollars to U.S. gross domestic product,” the group writes.
NSCAI’s report calls on the White House to develop a national microelectronics strategy and for Congress to institute new tax credits to help subsidize the construction of new semiconductor manufacturing facilities and bolster funds for federal microelectronics R&D and infrastructure spending.
“Regaining microelectronics leadership requires meeting an explicit objective: Stay at least two generations ahead of China in state-of-the-art microelectronics and maintain multiple sources of cutting-edge microelectronics fabrication in the United States,” the group writes.
The five-year microelectronics funding plan includes $15 billion for projects covered by a new microelectronics federal grants program, $12 billion for R&D efforts, $7 billion for infrastructure development and $500 million for the DoD Trusted & Assured Microelectronics program.