Corning's Hemlock to Get $325 Million Chips Act Funding for Chip-Grade Polysilicon

Dow Jones10-22
 

By Colin Kellaher

 

The U.S. government is awarding Corning's majority-owned Hemlock Semiconductor unit up to $325 million to expand its production capacity for semiconductor-grade polysilicon.

The Commerce Department on Monday said it signed a non-binding, preliminary memorandum of terms with Hemlock for direct funding under the Chips Act, a nearly $53 billion government effort passed in 2022 to jump-start domestic semiconductor production.

The Commerce Department said the proposed funding would support the construction of a new manufacturing plant on Hemlock's campus in Michigan dedicated to the production and purification of hyper-pure semiconductor-grade polysilicon, the foundational material for microprocessors, artificial intelligence chips, memory and power devices.

"Polysilicon is the bedrock of semiconductors, and it's important we have a reliable source of this material to manufacture the chips that help support our economic and national security," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Hemlock, which roughly 80% owned by Corning, is the only U.S.-based maker of hyper-pure polysilicon, the department added. Shin-Etsu Handotai, a unit of Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, owns the rest of Hemlock.

The Commerce Department said the proposed Hemlock project will create nearly 180 manufacturing jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs over time.

 

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2024 12:53 ET (16:53 GMT)

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