VESTAL, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – Binghamton University is celebrating a new federal law that could bolster its research into computer chips.

The CHIPS and Science Act was recently passed into law and will provide funding to increase the production of semiconductors in the United States.

The act also will provide nearly 100 billion dollars over the next five years towards innovations in science and technology.

Assistant Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development at Binghamton University, Per Stromhaug said that this act may drastically boost what is already being done at BU.

He also said the only way that will happen is if academic partners, industry partners, non-profit organizations and government leaders work together.

“Supply chain is a big problem right now. A lot of the semi-conductors are made over seas,” said Stromhaug. “And with a crisis like COVID, transportation crisis, supply chain, the War in Ukraine, we need to shift more of that manufacturing back to the U.S. and try to gain the upper hand again in both developing new technologies and advancing them.”

According to Stromhaug, the urgency of increasing semiconductor production and innovation in the U.S. cannot be understated.