The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized three CHIPS Incentives Program awards totaling $143 million to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain resilience. The funding supports projects by Corning in Canton, New York; Edwards Vacuum in Genesee County, New York; and Infinera in San Jose, California, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. These initiatives will expand production of critical semiconductor materials and equipment and enhance photonic semiconductor fabrication and packaging capabilities, addressing growing demands in AI, telecommunications, and advanced manufacturing.
Additionally, the Department has amended a prior award to GlobalFoundries, providing an additional $75 million for advanced packaging capabilities at its Malta, New York facility. The projects aim to secure the U.S. position as a leader in semiconductor innovation and ensure a robust, secure domestic supply chain for critical technologies.
• Corning (Canton, NY):
Corning will receive $32 million to increase production of High Purity Fused Silica (HPFS) and Ultra Low Expansion (ULE) Glass, materials essential for lithography tools used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. These materials are integral to deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography systems, which are used to produce the world’s most advanced microchips. The investment will also help develop new technology to improve EUV performance while reducing carbon emissions, addressing environmental concerns in chip manufacturing. The project will create 130 manufacturing and 175 construction jobs.
• Edwards Vacuum (Genesee County, NY):
Edwards Vacuum will use $18 million to establish a greenfield facility to produce semiconductor-grade dry vacuum pumps, which are vital for maintaining clean environments in chip fabrication. These pumps, installed beneath fabs, evacuate toxic fumes and chemicals, ensuring the chamber environment required for wafer processing. This facility addresses a critical supply chain gap as there is currently no domestic production of these pumps, which are essential for both advanced and legacy semiconductor fabs. The project is expected to create 500 production and 100 construction jobs.
• Infinera (San Jose, CA, and Bethlehem, PA):
Infinera will receive $93 million to build a new fabrication plant in San Jose and a packaging and testing facility in Bethlehem. The company’s indium phosphide-based photonic integrated circuits (InP PICs) use light to transmit data with greater energy efficiency than traditional electronic circuits. These PICs are vital for optical communications in data centers, AI clusters, and broadband networks, supporting the fast and reliable transfer of data over long and short distances. The project will increase Infinera’s domestic manufacturing capacity by tenfold and create 500 manufacturing and 1,200 construction jobs.
• GlobalFoundries (Malta, NY):
An additional $75 million in funding will enable GlobalFoundries to expand its advanced packaging capabilities for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding. These advanced processes are critical for chiplet integration, which improves the performance and efficiency of AI, high-performance computing, and communications technologies. The expanded facility will establish a fully integrated, secure domestic manufacturing process for sensitive applications, supporting national security.
