The Utah Procurement Code provides that a procurement may be made without competition when the University determines that there is only one source that can reasonably meet the University’s need for the required supply or service, as described in Utah Code Ann. § 63G-6a-802.
The Purchasing Department has received the following request for sole source procurement
Product and/or Service to be purchased: Integrated Circuit Fabrication and Packaging
Sole Source Supplier: Muse Semiconductor LLC
Earliest Proposed Purchase Date: January 26, 2024
Buyer Name: Jon Pezely
Sole Source Justification:
This purchase is for the fabrication and packaging of an integrated circuit in the TSMC 28nm technology node on a multi-project wafer. (MPW) Muse Semiconductor LLC is the only company that directly supports University and federal grants for MPW chip development. They provide front end relationship to the foundry and packaging companies.
There are no other companies that directly support University research for chip fabrication. This is the only provider that has delivered MPW chips to the University of Utah in the last eight years. The previous supplier discontinued this service. Another vendor has a chip service but they have never met deadlines or successfully delivered research chips to the University.