Obama announces new manufacturing innovation institute

The President today will announce new steps with the private sector to strengthen the manufacturing sector, boost advanced manufacturing, and attract the good paying jobs that a growing middle class requires. The President will announce the selection of a North Carolina headquartered consortium of businesses and universities, led by North Carolina State University, to lead a manufacturing innovation institute for next generation power electronics. 

A group of businesses and universities, led by North Carolina State University, will work together to design and manufacture next-generation, low-power semiconductors, U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday. The new manufacturing innovation institute, one of five such innovation hubs proposed by Obama last February, will focus on enabling a new generation of energy-efficient, high-power electronic chips and devices by making so-called wide bandgap semiconductor technologies cost-competitive with silicon-based technologies in the next five years, Obama said during a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina.