The US Department of Commerce has announced approximately $35 million in initial funding for BAE Systems to modernise the Microelectronics Center (MEC) in Nashua, New Hampshire.
This is the first funding announcement as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which was designed to strengthen American manufacturing, supply chains, and national security.
Modernising BAE Systems’ microelectronics centre helps support this vision and the continued development and manufacturing of cutting-edge technology to serve customers’ missions, the company said.
BAE Systems’ MEC is a 110,000-square-foot, Department of Defense (DoD)-accredited, semiconductor chip fabrication and foundry facility that produces technology for DoD applications.
The MEC develops advanced semiconductor technologies beyond those available commercially to meet demanding military requirements. It is one of the only domestic defence-centric six-inch Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) wafer foundries.
“Microelectronics are at the heart of the technology and products we make for our defence and aerospace customers—from next-generation aircraft and satellites to military-grade GPS and secure communications,” said Tom Arseneault, president and CEO of BAE Systems.
“This funding will help modernise our Microelectronics Center and fulfill the promise of the CHIPS and Science Act by increasing our capacity to serve national defence programmes, growing our technical workforce, and helping to strengthen the nation’s onshore supply chain. This initiative is the result of a strong partnership with federal, state, and local government.”
“We have been clear since day one that the CHIPS for America Program is about advancing our national security and strengthening domestic supply chains, all while creating good jobs supporting long-term US economic growth. As national security becomes as much about the chips inside of our weapons systems as the weapons systems themselves, this first CHIPS announcement shows how central semiconductors are to our national defence,” said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, we have reached preliminary terms to make a substantial investment in New Hampshire’s expanding defence industrial base, which will help make our country and supply chains more secure and bolster the economy of the Granite State.”
