The concept of chiplets, smaller chips packaged tightly together to function as a single microprocessor, has gained significant interest and traction in the computer chip industry. A recent article in the New York Times outlines both the tech and also the U.S. initiatives to be more involved in this segment of semiconductor manufacturing.

“Packaging is where the action is going to be,” said Subramanian Iyer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped pioneer the chiplet concept. “It’s happening because there is actually no other way.”

The catch is that such packaging, like making chips themselves, is overwhelmingly dominated by companies in Asia. Although the United States accounts for around 12 percent of global semiconductor production, American companies provide just 3 percent of chip packaging, according to IPC, a trade association.

Much of the discussion around the CHIPS act has been focused on the most cutting edge designs, but there may be a lot American companies can get from this type of manufacturing. Read the whole article here.