Three companies have been either approved for final funding or granted initial funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce through the CHIPS and Science Act.
Bosch has agreed to $225 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS Act to support the planned transformation of its manufacturing facility in Roseville, California. This fab, which Bosch is investing $1.9 billion in, will be transformed into a silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor facility.
SiC is a growing wide bandgap semiconductor that is being used in the renewable energy market and automotive industry as it transitions to electric vehicles (EVs). While SiC chips are used in other applications, renewables and EVs are growing fast and demand for wide bandgap semiconductors is rising as companies make long-term deals with wafer houses and chipmakers to secure supply.
Bosch acquired the Roseville fab in April of 2023 from chipmaker TSI Semiconductors, Currently, the fab develops ASICs on 200 mm silicon wafers. Bosch said at the time of the purchase it would transform the facility into a 200 mm SiC fab.
The funding through the CHIPS Act will help to support the 700 manufacturing jobs the Bosch facility will create and over 1,000 construction jobs.
Micron and GlobalWafers
Meanwhile, Micron was approved for final funding through the CHIPS Act for its double fab project for memory chips in Clay, New York, and Boise, Idaho.
The $6.17 billion in direct funding will help Micron in its own private investment of more than $100 billion in New York and $25 billion in Idaho. This long-term investment will result in about 20,000 jobs and will help grow U.S. domestically produced memory manufacturing from less than 2% today to about 10% by 2035.
GlobalWafers also received preliminary direct funding through the DOC in July of 2024 and has now had that $406 million finalized through the CHIPS Act.
GlobalWafers will use the funding to expand production of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and support the construction of new wafer manufacturing facilities. This investment would support projects in Missouri and Texas from GlobalWafers with total capital expenditures of about $4 billion across both states.
Additionally, the deal will create 1,700 construction jobs and 880 manufacturing jobs.