Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) foundry Rogue Valley Microdevices (RVM) is the 12th company to receive direct funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS and Science Act.
The proposed $6.7 million in funding comes after Rogue Valley Microdevices started construction on what the company claims is the first MEMS and sensor foundry with a 300 mm wafer capability in Palm Bay, Florida in May.
The funding will be used to help the construction of the Palm Bay fab, specifically the renovation of the clean room and equipment installation. This facility is estimated to triple the company’s manufacturing capacity with the first wafers expected to be produced in early 2025.
According to RVM, this is the first proposed investment from the CHIPS Act that supports a women- and minority-owned business. The company will also seek to claim the Department of Treasury’s Investment Tax Credit, which is expected to be up to 25% of qualified capital expenditures.
RVM said it is the only U.S.-based pure play MEMS foundry that specializes in a high-mix, low-volume wafer and MEMS foundry services for the defense industrial base and the biomedical sector.
The CHIPS Act, which was signed into law by the Biden Administration in 2022, has awarded direct funding to 12 companies both foreign and domestic but with the intention to build, expand or upgrade manufacturing fabrication facilities located in the U.S.
The goal is to create a supply chain in the U.S. that will be resilient to fluctuations in the semiconductor market due to global incidents or geopolitical events. The need to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S came about after COVID-19 crippled parts of the supply chain due to lockdowns causing many companies to hunt for new chips from other resources or cut back production schedules.
In June, Entegris was the 11th company to receive direct funding through the CHIPS Act after Rocket Lab received about $24 million through the CHIPS Act to modernize and expand its compound semiconductor production for spacecraft and satellites the same month.
So far, the CHIPS Act has doled out about $33 billion to companies and about $6 billion is left, which is expected to be given to smaller companies that are working on technologies like Rocket Lab and RVM.
