The White House plans to launch a research center for developing chips and semiconductors with $5 billion in funding, the latest in a series of efforts meant to help the United States maintain an edge in critical technologies over China.

The Biden administration announced on Friday that it’s establishing the National Semiconductor Technology Center, part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize factories for building chips domestically. The research is part of a larger endeavor to ensure that China and its military are not on the same level as the U.S. in chips and research.

“They’re investing quite a few dollars on chip design and chip manufacturing in China right now, as our main competitor,” Commerce Undersecretary for Standards and Technology Laurie Locascio told Bloomberg. “We are clearly thinking very, very hard about how we put up the right guardrails within our funding opportunities — how we protect IP, how we develop research security programs.”

The center will invest hundreds of millions into workforce development and funding research grants, Locascio said. The center is also considering whether to restrict research fund recipients from collaborating with Chinese academics, Locascio added. It is unclear if the center will ban recipients from collaborating with Chinese researchers, but Locascio emphasized that officials were “laser-focused” on ensuring the security of the research.

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The Biden administration approved over $280 billion for semiconductor investments and research in 2022, including more than $50 billion to fund the construction of additional factories and semiconductor manufacturing facilities, also known as “fabs.” The funding has been provided to major chipmakers building new factories in the U.S. Intel is building factories in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon and investing more than $43.5 billion into the factories. TSMC, which is considered one of the leading chip manufacturers in the world, is working on building two fabs in Arizona.

Members of the chip-building industry have grown frustrated with the Biden administration since they have yet to receive any of the promised federal support 18 months after the bill’s passage. The White House is expected to announce some of its most significant manufacturing grants by the end of March.