(Finance) – The United States government will grant 1.5 billion dollars to GlobalFoundries to increase semiconductor production, with the aim of strengthening domestic supply chains.
GlobalFoundries, the world’s third largest independent chip makerwill build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Malta, New York, and expand existing operations there and, in Burlington, Vermont, under the terms of the preliminary agreement with the Department of Commerce.
It is expected that the financing will generate $12.5 billion in potential investments overall in the two states.
The projects, funded under the CHIPS and Science Act, will generate more than 10,000 jobs over the course of a decade.
“The chips that GlobalFoundries will produce at these new facilities are chips essential to our national security,” the Commerce Secretary said Gina Raimondo to reporters during a briefing on the deal.
GlobalFoundries e General Motors announced on February 9th a long-term agreement to provide the automaker with processors made in the United States, which will help it avoid the chip shortage that has caused the production of millions of cars to be halted during the Covid-19 pandemic . “Today’s announcement will ensure this does not happen again,” Raimondo said. The new plant in Malta will produce high-value chips that are not currently produced in the United States, he added.
“As an industry, now we need to turn our attention to increasing demand for chips made in the United States and the growth of our talented American semiconductor workforce,” he said Thomas Caulfield, President and CEO of GlobalFoundries in a statement.