Episode 249: Intel Federal CTO Steve Orrin on the CHIPS Act and Supply Chain Security

In this episode of the Security Ledger Podcast, Paul speaks with Steve Orrin, the Federal CTO at Intel Corp. Steve talks about his work representing Intel and its technologies to the Federal Government and the impact of the recent passage of the CHIPS Act, a huge federal investment in promoting domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. We also talk about the growing focus within the federal space on software supply chain security and how firms like Intel are responding to calls for greater scrutiny of federal software and services. [MP3] [Transcript] In August 2022, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, one of the biggest federal investments in science and research and development in recent memory. The bill includes a 52.7 billion appropriation over five years to fund grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other programs to incentivize semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, “tax credits to spur the construction of semiconductor fabrication plants in the US and it limits the ability of chip makers to expand operations in China.  Episode 214: Darkside Down: What The Colonial Attack Means For The Future of Ransomware The CHIPS Act: a game changer Steve Orrin is the Federal CTO and a Senior Principal Engineer for Intel Corporation. CHIPS is expected to spur investment in the U.S. semiconductor industry, which has long taken a back seat to countries like Taiwan, where most of the world’s advanced semiconductors are manufactured. It’s a boon for companies like Intel, the United States most recognized semiconductor manufacturer. But what about the larger supply chain issues affecting U.S industry and the U.S. government? Including software supply chain? How are the CHIPS Act and other federal initiatives, like President Biden’s cyber Executive Order, changing the way that the federal government is looking at and procuring software, hardware and services from its own suppliers?  To help answer these questions we invited Steve Orrin into the studio to talk. Steve is the  Federal CTO and Senior Principal Engineer for Intel Corporation, a job that has him representing all of Intel’s technologies and capabilities to the federal government and the broader public sector. New IoT Security Regulations on Tap in U.S., U.K. In this conversation, Steve and I talk about Intel’s extensive work as a supplier of software, hardware and services to Uncle Sam, and about some of the initiatives Intel is working on – from confidential computing, to supply chain security and artificial intelligence. Transcript Steve Orrin (Intel): So I am Steve Orrin. I’m the Federal CTO and Senior Principal Engineer for Intel Corporation. And in that role, I basically represent all of Intel’s technologies and capabilities to the federal government and the broader public sector ecosystem. So that civilian military intelligence, the large system integrators, the federal OEMs and cloud providers really help them to figure out how to adopt and ...