BAE System to modernise microelectronics facility
The U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded USD 35 million in initial funding for BAE Systems to modernise the Microelectronics Center (MEC) in Nashua, New Hampshire.
This funding is part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which was designed to strengthen American manufacturing, supply chains, and national security. Modernising BAE Systems' microelectronics centre aims to support this vision.
BAE Systems' MEC is a 110,000-square-foot, Department of Defense (DoD)-accredited, semiconductor chip fabrication and foundry facility that produces technology for DoD applications. The MEC develops semiconductor technologies beyond those available commercially to meet military requirements. It is one of the only domestic defense-centric six-inch Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) wafer foundries.
"Microelectronics are at the heart of the technology and products we make for our defense and aerospace customers—from next-generation aircraft and satellites to military-grade GPS and secure communications," said Tom Arseneault, president and CEO of BAE Systems, Inc, in a press release. "This funding will help modernize our Microelectronics Center and fulfill the promise of the CHIPS and Science Act by increasing our capacity to serve national defense programs, growing our technical workforce, and helping to strengthen the nation's onshore supply chain. This initiative is the result of a strong partnership with federal, state, and local government."
The approximately USD 35 million in funding will be coupled with ongoing investment in modernisation and R&D by BAE Systems. The funding will help purchase new, more efficient manufacturing tools to mitigate supply chain risk, increase production capacity, and reduce time-to-build products.
The company says that the increased efficiency will enable a scale-up in production to meet increasing demand for DoD technology and provide critical microelectronics to non-defense industries including satellite communications, and test and measurement equipment markets.
