Hemlock Semiconductor receives $325 million in CHIPS funding

Diving overview:

The Department of Commerce plans to issue up to $325 million in CHIPS funding to Hemlock Semiconductor. The agency announced on Monday.
The funding is intended to support the chipmaker’s expansion into a new facility in Hemlock, Michigan, which will produce semiconductor-grade polysilicon, an essential material in chip manufacturing.
The project is expected to create approximately 180 manufacturing jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs.

Dive Insight:

Polysilicon is the basic material for microprocessors, artificial intelligence chips, memory, power devices, and solar panels. A material is a physical substance that gives a chip its semiconducting properties, the release said.

According to the release, Hemlock Semiconductor is one of only five major manufacturers in the world of polysilicon, which is used to make semiconductor wafers. The company is owned by technology companies Shin-Etsu Handtie and Corning, the latter of which $900 million solar component manufacturing plant Located in Richland Township, Michigan. Polysilicon is the main material used in the manufacture of solar panels.

“HSC is proud to be a manufacturing powerhouse in two important industries of the future: semiconductors and solar power,” said AB Ghosh, CEO and Chairman of Hemlock Semiconductor. said in the release. “Strengthened by the CHIPS Act, we plan to make once-in-a-generation investments in advanced technology to continue our role as a top polysilicon supplier to the cutting-edge semiconductor market.”

Elsewhere in Michigan, Hemlock Semiconductor Next-generation finishing facility completed Refine semiconductor grade polysilicon August 12th.

Proposed CHIPS funding for the Hemlock facility includes $5 million to support workforce development with local universities and education partnerships to provide semiconductor training and employment opportunities in the state. Included.

The company is also participating in the Michigan TryShare Initiative, which makes child care more affordable for employees, and will create new child care seats and strengthen child care access in the region. He said he is working on it. CHIPS applicants applying for $150 million or more
Both facility workers and construction workers are eligible, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Other semiconductor manufacturers in Michigan are also taking advantage of government funding. $544 million loan proposed for SK Siltron CSS In February, the Department of Energy announced it would expand silicon carbide wafer manufacturing capacity at its Bay City, Michigan, facility.

Hemlock and SK Siltron are participating in the state’s $125 million. Batteries and the challenge of advanced manufacturingannounced in February as a way to expand Michigan’s battery and chip manufacturing capacity.

In addition to up to $325 million in support from the Biden-Harris Administration’s CHIPS Act, the state will finance the Hemlock project with $40 million from the Make It in Michigan Competitiveness Fund and an additional partnership from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. is supporting.