Wolfspeed will receive a conditional 30-year, $1.5 billion loan from the U.S. Department of War to increase its production of silicon-carbide semiconductors as part of a national push to strengthen the domestic silicon-carbide manufacturing and stave off competition from China, the semiconductor manufacture announced.
The investment will bring more good-paying jobs to Marcy, N.Y., where the Charlotte-based Wolfspeed opened the world’s first fabrication facility to produce chips on 200mm silicon carbide wafers in 2022, predicted Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, who also announced the news.
And it will beef up the so-called Semiconductor Superhighway through upstate New York, he said.
“Wolfspeed is powering American technological leadership, national security and international competitiveness from their state-of-the-art semiconductor fab at the Marcy Nanocenter, and their silicon carbide chips would define the next generation of innovation,” Schumer said in a statement.
“After fighting for more than a decade to transform upstate New York into a globally recognized semiconductor superhighway, this is yet another example that the work is paying off here in Oneida County.”
'Whole government' response
Silicon carbide is a foundational substrate for the next-generation semiconductors essential to advanced defense systems, electric grid infrastructure, 5G communications and the modern automotive sector, Schumer said.
That’s why Schumer and a bipartisan delegation of senators sent a letter to the secretaries of war and commerce urging a “whole-government” response to China’s commitment to increasing its silicon carbide production under its Made in China 2025 initiative.
In the last five years, China’s share of the global silicon carbide market has grown from less than 5% to almost 50%, the senators pointed out.
“We believe the scale and 30-year tenor of this conditional commitment reflects the long-term importance of the technology and manufacturing capabilities Wolfspeed has built in the United States,” Wolfspeed CEO Robert Feurle said in a statement. “This financing would strengthen our continued advancement of silicon carbide materials and wide bandgap power devices, reinforcing our efforts to build a more resilient U.S. semiconductor and defense industrial base.”
The company, which also has domestic manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Arkansas, will use the loan, according to the company’s statement on it, to support a program to strengthen its domestic silicon carbide materials and power-device leadership; establish, expand or onshore domestic low-voltage or high-voltage gallium nitride (GaN) power device production capabilities; advance GaN-on-SiC radio-frequency epitaxial wafer technology; and develop domestic radiation-hardening capabilities.
Confidence in semiconductor ecosystem
News of the loan represents “another significant vote of confidence” in Wolfspeed, Marcy Nanocenter and the semiconductor “ecosystem” growing upstate, said Marc Barraco, chief of staff of Mohawk Valley EDGE, which played a huge role in bringing Wolfspeed to Marcy.
“(Schumer’s) leadership has helped position New York and the Mohawk Valley as critical contributors to America’s advanced manufacturing, economic competitiveness and national security,” he said in a statement.
“This conditional financing commitment further reinforces the importance of Wolfspeed’s operations in Marcy and the long-term opportunities that lie ahead for our region.”
The federal investment in Wolfspeed is good news for Oneida County, agreed county Executive Anthony Picente Jr.
“The advanced semiconductor technologies being developed by Wolfspeed have important applications for our national defense and complement the groundbreaking research and innovation taking place at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome,” he said in a statement.
“Having these capabilities in our community strengthens Oneida County’s position in the nation’s semiconductor and defense technology ecosystem, and this announcement reinforces the importance of continuing to grow that presence.”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Why is the war department investing $1.5B in Wolfspeed?
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
