WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday it plans to award $100 million to boost the use of artificial intelligence in developing new sustainable semiconductor materials.

The department, which is overseeing $52.7 billion in U.S. chips manufacturing and research grants, plans to award $100 million to help universities, national laboratories and the private sector develop AI-powered autonomous experimentation for sustainable semiconductor manufacturing. The goal is to reduce time needed to develop new semiconductor materials that are less resource-intensive.