UK tech giant first company to receive funds under CHIPS act to bolster US microchip manufacturing
A UK tech giant has secured a landmark grant from the US Department of Commerce, under the CHIPS and Science Act – the first company ever to receive the funding.
BAE Systems, which is best known as Britain’s biggest defence company, but also has a burgeoning tech business has received around $35m (£28m) to modernise its Microelectronics Center (MEC), a semiconductor fabrication plant, in the state of New Hampshire in the US.
It is part of the CHIPS and Science Act’s goal of bolstering American manufacturing, supply chains and national security.
“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 chief executive of BAE Systems.
BAE’s new funding will be used to buy new manufacturing tools as well as increase the amount and the speed of production to meet increasing demand.
The CHIPS for America Act passed in 2022, aims to attract private investment to strengthen domestic chip manufacturing and create and scale projects that advance US national security.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, said: “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 U.S. 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,” she added.