News Release

UC San Diego is Bolstering National Leadership in Microelectronics

August 12, 2025

Every smartphone, car and aircraft relies on microchips made from semiconductors—the tiny “brains” of modern electronics that power technologies shaping daily life and national security. Most are produced overseas, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

Backed by a $2 billion Department of Defense investment, the Microelectronics Commons is accelerating chip innovation and domestic production. As part of one of eight national hubs selected to lead this effort, UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering and Qualcomm Institute are bridging the gap between lab research and commercial manufacturing. Much of this work at UC San Diego is anchored by Nano3, the campus’ world-class nanofabrication facility, where researchers are developing semiconductor technologies already moving into industry use. The UC San Diego faculty leader for these efforts to power emering semiconductor industries is electrical engineering professor Yuhwa Lo.

One of the hub’s recent breakthroughs is a chip process that integrates visible and infrared sensing and LIDAR—laser-based detection used in autonomous navigation—onto standard semiconductor platforms. These innovations could enable safer self-driving vehicles, smarter robots, next-generation mobile devices and advanced aerospace systems, and are already drawing interest from the U.S. Navy, Army, NASA and private companies.

This advanced semiconductors work is one of eight UC San Diego breakthroughs that are powering a safer, stronger nation.

Media Contacts

Daniel Kane
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-534-3262
dbkane@ucsd.edu