My next guest is the CEO of Aluma,
that is a US based chip maker.
His name is Jonathan Clankin and he joins me now.
Jonathan, you just landed a deal with the Navy.
Did you get the deal because your chips are really
good or because they're 100%
made in America?
I I think the answer to that question is both
our chips are made 100%
in America. We have a very unique facility in Santa
Barbara,
CA and we work with a number of US based
foundries and the technology that we develop is of high
interest to the US government and also to some of
the commercial sector. Do your chips specifically improve our military
weapons?
Are they designed to improve weaponry?
Not specifically, but we do build semiconductor chips that could
be used for sensors on a number of platforms.
The work that we're doing with the Navy,
for example, involves taking our technology and putting it on
aerial platforms,
understanding how these chips will perform in extreme environments.
So that could be out in the field and also
enhancing the communication systems on aerial platforms.
So we've got a really cutting edge technology that is
of interest to the US government.
You mentioned mentioned the contract.
And an earlier one, we also have a contract with
the Office of Secretary of Defense and with the Department
of Energy.
So our technology is very broadly applicable.
How has the CHIPS Act affected your company?
My my question really is,
are you getting money from the government directly?
Coming, so I think most of the announcements that you've
seen regarding the CHIPS Act are incentivizing some of the
bigger semiconductor companies.
You mentioned earlier that a lot of the semiconductor manufacturing
happens offshore.
the US only manufacturers about 12%
of the world's advanced chips.
So much of the Chipsac funding is incentivizing,
incentivizing big semiconductor companies to do more manufacturing on shore.
We are a part of a pretty major initiative in
Southern California funding that flows down through the Department of
Defense and brings together.
The defense and aerospace industry along with a number of
small and medium sized companies and universities.
So after the big semiconductor companies are taking advantage,
now we're starting to see those funds flow down to
smaller businesses like us.
I just want to check one point.
I know you're headquartered in Santa Barbara,
CA. Do you make the chips there as well?
We do one piece of the manufacturing here in house,
the piece that's very core to our intellectual property and
frankly no one else in the world knows how to
carry out that specific step.
The rest of the process happens at US based foundry.
So it is 100% built in in America.
Jonathan Clampkin, thanks very much for joining us this morning,
100% made in America. We encourage that.
Thanks for joining us Sir.
Appreciate it.