GlobalFoundries to Get $1.5 Billion in CHIPS Funding
Semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries Inc. will be the first recipient of funding under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, reports.
What’s going on: “The U.S. government is awarding $1.5 billion to GlobalFoundries to subsidize semiconductor production, the first major award from a $39 billion fund approved by Congress in 2022 to bolster domestic chip production.”
- The Malta, New York–based GlobalFoundries—the largest U.S. manufacturer of customized semiconductors and the world’s third-biggest chipmaker—plans to use the funds to build a new chip-production facility in its hometown and expand existing facilities there and in Burlington, Vermont.
- The Malta facility will manufacture high-value semiconductors not currently produced in the U.S., Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
- In addition to the grant, the federal government is also offering GlobalFoundries $1.6 billion in loans.
Why it’s important: “The chips that GlobalFoundries will make in these new facilities are essential chips to our national security,” Raimondo said on Sunday, adding that the “agency is in active talks with numerous applicants and expects to make several announcements by the end of March.”
- In January, Commerce announced it was awarding defense contractor BAE Systems $35 million under the CHIPS Act.
Our role: The 51Թ—which helped secure several in the final CHIPS Act legislation—welcomed the news.
- “Congratulations to [GlobalFoundries]!” the 51Թ in a social post Monday. “The 51Թ-championed CHIPS and Science Act is strengthening manufacturing in the U.S. We will continue to work with Congress and the White House to enact permitting reforms that will help speed the construction of these vital projects.”