SemiTech Insights | Newsletter
Welcome to the first edition of the SemiTech Insights Newsletter! We’re excited to launch this new platform as a way to share updates, insights, and opportunities across the rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape.
This newsletter marks an important milestone for our team. Since forming SemiTech Insights, built by the former Natcast Research Team, we have continued our mission to bridge the gap between technology insight and strategic execution of semiconductor R&D, workforce development, and technology transition. We are dedicated to delivering strategic clarity, deep technical expertise, and execution excellence for our partners across industry, academia, and government. Two of our partners have the distinguished honor of being on IEDM committees this year, with one chairing a session at the conference next week. Continue reading or jump to the IEDM section to learn more; we encourage you to reach out if you are also attending.
We are energized by the momentum we’re seeing across the ecosystem, and we look forward to using this periodic newsletter to highlight progress, spotlight emerging technologies, share valuable resources, and showcase the collaborative efforts driving innovation forward.
Thank you for being part of the SemiTech Insights community. We’re just getting started and are excited for what’s ahead!
Market & Industry Outlook
The semiconductor industry is entering a pivotal phase as the U.S. accelerates its CHIPS Act agenda and the CRDO BAA sharpens national focus on fast-tracking innovations from lab to fab. With increasing emphasis on advanced packaging, AI-enabled R&D, metrology, manufacturing readiness, and technology transition, companies must show the ability to mature solutions quickly and align with federal priorities. The administration is calling for tighter collaboration between research institutions, startups, and established industry players to compress development cycles, strengthen domestic capability, and translate innovation into economic and national-security impact. SemiTech Insights is directly focused on these needs. We support technology definition, readiness evaluation, commercialization planning, and milestone-driven execution that help organizations succeed in CHIPS-related funding opportunities that will move technology efficiently from concept to deployment.
Globally, the competitive landscape continues to intensify as regions such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Europe expand their investments in advanced manufacturing, memory, and heterogeneous integration. Applications across data center and edge AI, automotive electronics, and high-performance compute are driving rapid demand for innovation in materials, interconnects, packaging, and reliability. This environment creates both opportunity and urgency for industry leaders who must navigate technical progress, standards development, supply-chain coordination, and clear commercialization paths. SemiTech Insights is committed to supporting partners across both the U.S. and international markets, bringing technical depth and strategic insight that help organizations innovate, compete, and scale in a fast-changing global microelectronics ecosystem.
Technology Spotlight
Discover Why STCO Is Reshaping the Future of Semiconductor Innovation
In our latest Technical Insight we break down the vision and practical impact of Technology Co-Optimization (STCO)—a system-first approach that’s becoming essential as Moore’s Law slows and AI workloads scale. We explore the STCO hierarchy, dive into the highest-leverage optimization pillars, and explain how simulation, packaging, chiplets, and memory are converging to define the next generation of compute systems. Whether you’re navigating architectural trade-offs or planning R&D investments, this piece offers a clear lens into where the industry is headed—and how to stay ahead. [Read the full blog →]
Partners & Ecosystem Engagement
SemiTech continues to expand partnerships across industry, academia, government, and the startup ecosystem. We are pleased to announce that three former Natcast veterans have joined SemiTech Insights as advisors:
Dr. Megha Thakur
A semiconductor leader with over 15 years of experience driving complex, multi-billion-dollar engineering, manufacturing, and federal innovation programs across the U.S. microelectronics ecosystem. Formerly Director of Semiconductor Ecosystem Enablement at Natcast and a Senior Principal at MITRE, Megha brings deep expertise in advanced manufacturing, packaging, security, and supply-chain resiliency—connecting industry, government, and academia to accelerate semiconductor innovation.
Dr. Sandani Samarajeewa
A semiconductor R&D leader with deep expertise in contact and BEOL process integration, bringing over a decade of experience advancing next-generation interconnect technologies at Intel and through her work at Natcast. She has led major programs spanning novel materials, advanced patterning, and supply-chain innovation, earning multiple Intel Technology Development Excellence Awards and recognition as an IEEE invited speaker for her contributions to semiconductor process leadership.
Isabel Boona
A strategic program operations and proposal development leader with extensive experience enabling research and technology organizations to scale through disciplined infrastructure, efficient workflows, and competitive positioning. She has built and modernized end-to-end proposal systems across federal and commercial environments—improving win rates, operational readiness, and execution quality through her work at Battelle, Natcast, and other national innovation initiatives.
Events & Conferences
71st Annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM)
Two distinguished SemiTech Insights partners are playing a major role in This year’s IEDM:
Gabriela Dilliway is part of the Advanced Logic Technology committee and will chair Session 19: Transistors with 2D, Oxide Semiconductor and Novel Materials on Tuesday 12/9, starting at 2:15 in Ballroom B. This session features eight presentations from both academia and industry highlighting recent progress in the use of novel materials for advanced CMOS.
Wei-Chih Chien serves on the Memory Technology subcommittee of IEDM for 2024 and 2025. He participated in the paper selection meetings and contributed his technical expertise and industry experience to help organize and shape the memory sessions for the conference.
2nd Annual MMEC Member Meeting
SemiTech Insights was proud to have Salman Nasir attend the 2nd Annual MMEC Member Meeting, a key CHIPS Act–funded gathering advancing U.S. microelectronics. The event highlighted MMEC’s “No Excuses” mission to accelerate lab-to-fab transitions, expand fabrication and test access, build digital design and workforce capabilities, and support technology scale-up. Participants from industry, academia, government, and startups convened for two days of technical sessions and strategic discussions across space, AI, packaging, secure edge, and workforce development. Salman found the meeting energizing and affirmed MMEC’s critical role in strengthening U.S. microelectronics leadership. SemiTech Insights looks forward to continued engagement.
SemiTech Insights at the NSF Compute–Energy Nexus Workshop
SemiTech Insights is pleased to highlight Salman Nasir will serve as Session Chair for the Chip and System Architecture track at the NSF Compute–Energy Nexus Workshop. This national forum brings together leaders from industry, academia, utilities, federal agencies, and the semiconductor ecosystem to address the rapidly growing intersection of computing demand and energy infrastructure.
Salman will lead the session “Chip and System Architecture: Energy as a Peer Requirement,” focusing on how hardware and system design can dramatically reduce computational energy and better integrate with emerging energy resources, essential for sustainable AI and next-generation computing. SemiTech Insights is honored to support this effort and contribute to shaping a national roadmap for integrated compute-energy solutions.
Federal Opportunities & Funding Watch
CHIPS Research & Development Office (CRDO) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): CRDO BAA
Notice of Funding Opportunity: Facilities for Semiconductor Materials and Manufacturing Equipment: CPO BAA
Microelectronic (ME) Commons Fy26 Call for Projects (CFP) via National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL): ME Commons CFP
National Network for Microelectronics Education (NNME): Inspiring Growth in Microelectronics Education
Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chain (MESC) NOFO for Rare Earth Element (REE) Demonstration Facility: DE-FOA-0003587
For government funding opportunities our team offers:
Capture Strategy
Partner Framework Development
Value Proposition Shaping
Full Proposal Drafting and Compliance Review
Submission Support
Looking Ahead
SemiTech Insights will continue scaling our support in:
National R&D program design and execution
Workforce pipeline strategy
Independent technology evaluations and readiness assessments