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Dive Brief:
- The Commerce Department will provide up to $75 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding to semiconductor supplier Entegris, for several press releases.
- The funds will support Entegris’ construction of a $600 million, 100,000-square-foot manufacturing center in Colorado Springs, which is expected to begin operations in early 2025.
- The facility, which opened in June 2023, is expected to create nearly 600 direct manufacturing jobs over several years and approximately 500 construction jobs by 2030.
Diving knowledge:
Entegris is among the many technology companies the federal government is relying on to power its semiconductor supply chain with unique approaches to manufacturing chip materials.
The new facility will produce unified front-opening pods, which are currently produced entirely overseas. Highly specialized containers secure the semiconductor wafers while they are handled and transported during the manufacturing process.
Internal transport systems have helped customers such as Intel, TSMC, Micron and GlobalFoundries.
Entegris also plans to claim the Department of Revenue’s investment tax credit, which is expected to cover up to 25% of qualified capital expenditures.
The Colorado Springs facility is being built in multiple phases, with the first to support the production of front-opening unified pods and liquid filter membranes. The second phase will support the production of advanced liquid filters and purifiers, as well as fluid handling solutions.
In addition to the manufacturing center, Entegris is also committed to further expanding its research and development capabilities in the US by the end of the decade, according to the press release.
For its workforce, Entegris has partnered with Arizona-based Microchip Technology, which received $90 million in CHIPS funding to build a manufacturing facility in Colorado Springs in January. Entegris also works with local educational institutions, nearby Army and Air Force bases, and veteran service organizations with the goal of recruiting 50% of its workforce from veterans and military families. The Colorado Springs facility will also serve as a Military Center of Excellence.
To date, the CHIPS Act has announced up to $29.5 billion in proposed funding for the nation’s semiconductor supply chain. Entegris’ announcement marks the Act’s eleventh preliminary memorandum of terms, following Rocket Lab’s $24 million in funding earlier this month to expand its solar cell production facility in New Mexico
Entegris has domestic manufacturing facilities in Texas, California, Illinois, Oregon, Connecticut, Minnesota and Massachusetts, according to its 2023 annual report.
The chip supplier has also expanded outside the US. Entegris opened its largest manufacturing plant in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Science Park in May 2023, as well as a research center in South Korea.
