The National Institute of Standards and Technology has started to solicit proposals from industry sources that could provide data and analysis on semiconductor credit ratings, research and financial data.
The Department of Commerce’s CHIPS program office will use the information to assess potential financial and credit risks associated with loan applications submitted in response to notice of funding opportunities issued under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, according to a solicitation published Friday.
The law provides DOC with $50 billion in funding to support programs meant to promote semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing efforts.
According to the statement of work, CPO needs a commercial off-the-shellf, subscription to a service that could provide access to credit ratings, research and analysis for public and private chip producers.
The service should include financial and credit metrics of a company that could be used by CPO in assessing risks in CHIPS applications and post-award risk monitoring and should come with information on semiconductor sector forecast or economic outlook that could be used to evaluate any relevant financial and macroeconomic trends and events that may affect the overall credit quality of semiconductor companies.
CPO wants the subscription to contain licenses for up to 10 users and an option to modify the contract to add additional users in the future.
The office will require the subscription to include customer support and training assistance for each user during the subscription service’s duration.
Responses to the solicitation are due Aug. 25.
