Dive Brief:
- The Department of Commerce will issue Hemlock Semiconductor up to $325 million in CHIPS funding, the agency announced Monday.
- The funding aims to help expand the chipmaker’s construction of a new facility in Hemlock, Michigan, that will produce semiconductor-grade polysilicon, a critical material for chip manufacturing.
- The project is expected to generate nearly 180 manufacturing jobs and over 1,000 construction jobs.
Dive Insight:
Polysilicon is the foundational material for microprocessors, artificial intelligence chips, memory, power devices and solar panels. The material is the physical substance that gives chips their semiconductor properties, the release stated.
Hemlock Semiconductor is one of just five major manufacturers in the world that make polysilicon used to create semiconductor wafers, according to the release. The company is owned by technologies companies Shin-Etsu Handotai and Corning Inc., the latter of which is building a $900 million solar component manufacturing plant in Richland Township, Michigan. Polysilicon is a key material used in solar panel manufacturing.
“HSC is proud to be a manufacturing powerhouse for two vital industries of the future — semiconductor and solar,” Hemlock Semiconductor CEO and Chairman AB Ghosh said in the release. “Bolstered by the CHIPS Act, we are planning for a once-in-a-generation investment in advanced technologies to continue serving as a top polysilicon supplier to the leading-edge semiconductor market.”
Elsewhere in Michigan, Hemlock Semiconductor completed its next-generation finishing facility to refine its semiconductor-grade polysilicon on Aug. 12.
For the facility in Hemlock, the proposed CHIPS funding includes $5 million to support workforce development with local college and educational partnerships to provide semiconductor training and employment opportunities in the state.
The company also participates in the Michigan Tri-Share initiative to make childcare more affordable for employees and said it’s committing to create new childcare seats and strengthen child care access in the area. CHIPS applicants applying for over $150 million are required to provide a child care plan for
both facility and construction workers, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Other chipmakers in Michigan have also been capitalizing on government funding. SK Siltron CSS was offered a $544 million loan in February from the Department of Energy to expand silicon carbide wafer manufacturing capacity at its site in Bay City, Michigan.
Hemlock and SK Siltron are participating in the state’s $125 million Battery and Advanced Manufacturing Challenge, announced in February as a way to expand battery and chip manufacturing capacity in Michigan.
In addition to up to $325 million from the Biden-Harris administration’s CHIPS Act, the state is supporting Hemlock’s project with $40 million from the Make It in Michigan Competitiveness Fund and additional partnership from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
