SkyWater secures $16 million in federal funds
Minnesota chip manufacturer SkyWater will use USD 127 million, including USD 19 million in matching state funds, to improve its infrastructure and cybersecurity systems, among other upgrades.
Minnesota-based chip manufacturer SkyWater Technology will receive up to USD 16 million in federal funding to upgrade its Bloomington plant.
The aid is part of a preliminary agreement with the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act.
“If we want to continue leading the global economy, we must be a country that makes stuff, invents things and exports to the world,” Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar said. “This significant investment in SkyWater Technology will transform domestic semiconductor manufacturing.”
SkyWater will use USD 127 million, including USD 19 million in matching state funds, through the next five years to improve its infrastructure and cybersecurity systems, among other upgrades, CEO Thomas Sonderman said, according to a report in The Minnesota Star Tribune.
The funding will help the company, which makes semiconductors used in computing, biomedical and thermal imaging, ramp up its production capacity by 30% and create around 70 jobs, he said.
The CHIPS and Science Act provides resources for helping US companies build, expand or modernize domestic facilities and equipment for semiconductor production while boosting the development of the domestic chip workforce and addressing labor shortages.
“We are pleased to receive this important CHIPS funding, including the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to expand our nation’s onshore capacity. We’ve been the beneficiary of significant government program awards over the past several years, and we’re proud of our role in helping to expand the domestic microelectronics infrastructure and strengthen the US supply chain,” said SkyWater CEO Thomas Sonderman. “We have been working to meet the specific needs of the Defense Industrial Base and commercial companies, developing the technologies of the future. The investments today are another milestone along this path.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act is making targeted investments to meet market demands for technology critical to our national and economic security,” said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Today’s proposed investments across Texas and Minnesota would help bolster domestic chip production and help secure our supply chain for decades to come.”
Earlier in the year, SkyWater halted plans to build a USD 1.8 billion semiconductor production and research facility in Indiana, citing concerns in its earnings report over potential financial and operational risks, the Star Tribune report said.
