The Department of Commerce announced today that it has entered into a preliminary agreement with Polar Semiconductor to provide the company with $120 million under the CHIPS and Science Act to expand the company’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The Department of Commerce’s (DoC) Economic Development Administration (EDA) made public today the details of the 31 technology hubs’ proposals for the second phase of the new Tech Hubs program – revealing a collective request of $2 billion in funding for a total of 182 projects.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is doubling the size of its Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, to $1.98 billion, NTIA said on August 9.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that all 50 states have confirmed their participation in the Biden Administration’s Internet for All Initiative.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced today that he has appointed Tip Osterthaler as chair of the FirstNet Authority Board.

Both the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Commerce are progressing ahead on rural broadband agency priority goals (APG) as a part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) with some help from emergency funds in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

As a part of its CHARIot Challenge, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality (AR) challenges to improve public safety communications for first responders.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched a new broadband initiative dubbed the Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI), that will focus on “solving broadband deployment challenges in vulnerable communities.”

The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) took the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to task in a July 22 report that finds “control weaknesses” in FirstNet’s handling of a $336 million payment it made to its contractor AT&T.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced two pieces of legislation on Tuesday designed to improve cybercrime prevention and strengthen U.S. election infrastructure.