Glass substrate vendor Absolics Inc. will receive $75 million in direct funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to aid in the construction of a semiconductor packaging facility in Covington, Georgia.
Absolics, based in Georgia, is the latest company in the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain to receive funding from the CHIPS and Science Act after seven other companies have received direct funding. Absolics is the first proposed CHIPS investment in a commercial facility supporting the semiconductor supply chain by manufacturing a new advanced material.
Under the agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC), Absolics will use the funding in the construction of a 120,000 square-foot substrate facility in Covington. Absolics’ glass substrates are used in semiconductor advanced packaging.
Why glass substrates?
Glass substrates are growing in popularity due to the technology’s ultra-low-flatness, better thermal stability and mechanical stability. This helps with higher interconnect density in a substrate so chip designers can engineer high-density, high-performance chip packages for data-intensive applications like artificial intelligence, data centers and high-performance computing (HPC).
However, the market for advanced packaging substrates is centered in Asia.
Companies like Intel Corp. and others are ramping up the support for glass substrates in packaging as a result of these advantages. The DoC in February announced it allotted $300 million in funding through the CHIPS Act for advanced packaging substrates and substrate materials including glass.
Absolics’ glass substrates enable smaller, more densely packed and shorter length connections that result in faster and more energy efficient computing.
The investment
The proposed Absolics investment will support more than 1,000 construction jobs and about 200 manufacturing and R&D jobs in the Covington area. It will also support innovation capacity at Georgia Institute of Technology’s 3D Packaging Research Center.
The company will continue to work with Georgia Tech on R&D while also collaborating on projects like the U.S. Department of Defense’s State-of-the-art Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) program in radiofrequency technologies.
This effort is an important component of establishing a robust semiconductor advanced packaging ecosystem in the state of Georgia and restoring the U.S.’s leadership in semiconductor industry,” said Jun Rok Oh, CEO of Absolics. "Our new facility in Covington will not only enhance our ability to produce high-quality glass substrates but also create high-skilled jobs and drive innovation through our partnership with Georgia Tech.”
