[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO ANTHONY K. STAMPER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, one of the most ubiquitous technologies in 
the world today is the cell phone. According to Pew Research, a 
stunning 97 percent of Americans own some sort of mobile device. These 
devices are critical to our everyday lives, keeping us connected to one 
another while also serving as a gateway to entire sectors of our 
economy. Most Americans probably do not realize that they are holding a 
piece of Vermont in their hands every time they use their phone, but 
thanks to engineers at GlobalFoundries in Essex Junction, every cell 
phone in the world contains a chip manufactured in my home State.
  Today, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the efforts of 
one of those engineers, Anthony ``Tony'' Stamper of Burlington and 
thank him for his contributions to the global innovation ecosystem from 
his corner of Vermont. Tony retired this summer from GlobalFoundries 
after 30 years of semiconductor engineering at the Essex facility. 
During Tony's celebrated career, he has been responsible for over 500 
patented inventions, making him one of the world's top 100 most 
prolific inventors of all time.
  Tony's leadership at GlobalFoundries has helped keep Vermont at the 
forefront of an ever-changing industry for over 70 years. In 2015, 
GlobalFoundries acquired IBM's Essex plant and their talented 
workforce. Thanks to Tony and Essex innovators like him, the Vermont 
GlobalFoundries facility leads the industry in manufacturing radio 
frequency power semiconductors.
  While Tony has been a prolific inventor, U.S. Patent No. 6,310,300 is 
one of his most notable inventions. It solved the significant problem 
that the space between an insulation layer and a metal wire in a chip 
would degrade over time. He and his team members created a barrier 
layer that prevented degradation and allowed for much smaller metal 
wires on the chip, hence much smaller chips. The invention has been 
used in every chip produced in the last 20 years.
  Tony is not only an accomplished inventor but has repeatedly led 
teams of engineers to utilize these inventions to create leading edge 
products for high-speed computing and mobile communications. Tony has 
been a dedicated mentor and teacher to a new generation of inventors, 
which led him to be nominated for the GlobalFoundries Diversity and 
Inclusion Inventorship Champion Award. He knows that collaboration is 
the key ingredient to successful innovation and has fostered that kind 
of environment in all of the invention teams he has led.
  Tony's story shows that innovators can thrive anywhere in the 
country, not just in Silicon Valley. I know his fellow engineers, who 
have relied on his expertise over the years, will feel his absence and 
miss him dearly. As he embarks on this next exciting part of his life, 
I want to acknowledge Tony's work and thank him for his decades of 
service to Vermont and the industry. Marcelle and I join his friends at 
GlobalFoundries and wish him the best of luck.

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