Remarks from Basic Research: Fueling America's Future Event - David Bell, President, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director, Intersil Corporation

Good morning, Ladies and Gentleman.  On behalf of Intersil and the Semiconductor Industry Association, it is a pleasure to be here.

From the cell phone in your pocket to the data centers that support the Internet; from the hybrid vehicles plying our highways to solar panels increasingly dotting our neighborhoods; from the refrigerator in your kitchen to the motor controls running our nation’s largest manufacturing facilities — today, chips are allowing us to do more with less.

Chip technology and the energy solutions they enable did not occur in a vacuum or overnight.  They are the result of long-term basic research.  Basic research led to development of the transistor and subsequently the integrated circuit.  Ongoing basic research will yield tomorrow’s solutions.

The technological innovations of the past half-century have created whole new industries with millions of high paying jobs – 226,000 in my industry alone. Technology has boosted American productivity, wages, and the quality of our lives. Sometimes overlooked, however, are the enormous strides that have been made in delivering these capabilities in ever-more energy efficient and environmentally friendly ways.  Almost always overlooked is the importance of the basic research that brought forth these opportunities.

A study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that for every extra kilowatt-hour of electricity that is demanded by information and communications technology, the U.S. economy increased its overall energy savings by a factor of about 10 on average. These savings are a result of the phenomenal increases in semiconductors, computers, and telecommunications equipment are widely adopted, creating efficiencies throughout the economy.

Whether it is in reducing the energy demand of the world’s largest data centers or enabling mechanisms that make everything from cars to supermarket refrigeration systems more efficient — chips play a key role in today’s energy conservation and climate protection efforts.

Chips are also an integral component in many of the alternative energy technologies that are being developed to allow us to operate today and grow tomorrow in ways that our planet can sustain.

The basic design principles of the four-stroke internal combustion engine that propels a car has remained largely the same since it was patented in 1884. The dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions control that we have witnessed over the past decades have largely been delivered by changes in engine control electronics.

Today’s vehicles have countless chip-enabled features such as gasoline direct injection, knock detection, oxygen sensors, exhaust gas recirculation, evaporative emission control systems, misfire detection, and secondary air systems. Even electronic steering systems leverage chip technology to eliminate the hydraulic system and associated engine drag to improve efficiency. These chip-based features both reduce energy consumption and improve vehicle performance and safety.

Chips additionally play an integral role in the increasingly popular hybrid cars available to energy-conscious consumers across the nation. And chip advances will be critical to expanding the consumer utility of plug-in electric vehicles by substantially extending their range and performance.

Chips play a key role in the electronics used in both solar and wind generated power systems, including solar inverters and wind turbines, which convert direct current from solar panels or turbines into usable household alternating current. With the latest chip technologies, system efficiency is maximized so it can be productive even on cloudy and low wind days.

Chip technologies are also being researched to better use solar power — both natural sunlight and indoor ambient — in recharging the batteries of portable devices.

All of these examples illustrate the realm of possibilities chip technology have provided to us.  Nevertheless, basic research at our nation’s labs and universities fueled these advances.  Federal investment in basic research enabled these initiatives.

We still have the ideas, the labs, and the universities.  We also have leaders on both sides of aisle, throughout industry, government, and academia, who have reached the consensus that basic research is important and that our nation must focus on our energy challenges. 

The first step Congress must take is to fully fund the America COMPETES legislation and do so before they go home.  The increased federal funding for basic research that this legislation calls for at NIST, NSF, and the Office of Science at the Department of Energy will go along way in helping us solve our energy challenges, while providing new solutions.