The factory will be built in the high-tech park of Purdue University, which also announced that it will increase engineering studies in the relevant fields to meet the growing demand for chip engineers in the new factories that will be built following the new law
SkyWater Technology, an American chip manufacturer that supplies the Department of Defense (DOD), plans to build a $1.8 billion R&D and chip manufacturing facility in the state of Indiana.
The pub, which will be located on the Purdue University campus in the town of West Lafayette, is planned as a public-private partnership that will rely on federal participation as part of the Chip Act that allocates $52 billion to chip manufacturing plants.
“This effort to strengthen our chip manufacturing facilities will rely on funding from the CHIPS Act,” said Thomas Sonderman, CEO of SkyWater at the announcement event. “Federal investment will enable SkyWater to more rapidly expand our efforts to meet the need for strategic restructuring of semiconductor manufacturing.”
This is another evidence of the impact of the chip law. About a month ago, GlobalWafers, one of the three leading silicon wafer manufacturers in the world, announced that it plans to build a new 300mm wafer wafer facility in Sherman, Texas, the first investment of its kind in the US in more than 20 years.
SkyWater’s new facility will ensure the preservation of intellectual property and support a more resilient and comprehensive supply chain, providing benefits to US government and commercial customers, the company said. The Ministry of Defense approved the plan.
“SkyWater’s investment in a new, state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facility at Purdue University’s Discovery Park represents a major step forward and underscores the importance of public-private partnerships in fostering a robust and thriving local microelectronics industry,” said Debnand Shanoy, Chief Director of Microelectronics at the Office of the Undertaker. -The Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering of the DOD.
SkyWater said it will benefit from working closely with Purdue and its talent pipeline.
Purdue University is ramping up what it calls the first “comprehensive” degree program in the U.S. in semiconductor engineering. When about a dozen new pubs are going to be built in the US in the next five years, the country will need 50,000 new engineers – more than double the number that universities in the US are currently producing.