Updated at 11:00 a.m. July 17 with comments from Karla Chaney
One of the world's leading suppliers of critical components for semiconductor chips is getting significant federal support to expand its operations in St. Charles County.
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday morning that it will provide up to $400 million in funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to GlobalWafers Co. to establish more of the semiconductor supply chain in the U.S.
“[This is] an important step to onshore a critical component for the semiconductors that are the foundation of our information age,” said Arati Prabhakar, who directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The funding from the federal government will help GlobalWafers make nearly $4 billion in capital investments into new manufacturing facilities at subsidiaries in Texas and Missouri, she said. It includes MEMC LLC, which recently completed a $300 million expansion of its O’Fallon, Missouri plant.
These facilities will focus on producing silicon wafers, which are essential building blocks to semiconductor chips, Prabhakar said.
“Trying to make a chip without a wafer is sort of like trying to make a taco without a tortilla; it just won’t work,” she said. “Wafers are the foundation and if you don’t have wafers then you don’t have chips.”
The expansion of the O’Fallon facility will produce 300mm silicon-on-insulator wafers, which are two silicon wafers joined together with a film in-between them, said Karla Chaney site general manager at MEMC.
“Doing that enhances the performance characteristics of that wafer, which are desired in [harsher environments] like defense and aerospace applications,” she said.
The expansion of MEMC’s capabilities will make it the only large scale manufacturing facility in the country making these kinds of chips, Chaney said.
And establishing this kind of domestic manufacturing capability is an important goal for the federal government, considering nearly 90% of silicon wafers are produced in East Asia today, Prabhakar said.
“That has enormous implications for our economy, from jobs to supply chains, and for our national security,” she said. “Taken together this investment will create over 2,500 jobs in construction and in manufacturing, right here in America.”
The expansion in St. Charles County would generate 500 construction jobs and 130 in manufacturing once complete, according to senior Biden Administration officials. They declined to specify how much of the funding was going to each state, calling the agreement “a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms” to provide the money.
This additional development of MEMC’s facilities will add to the company’s initial $300 million investment, bringing the total to a little under $500 million, Chaney said.
MEMC is also developing pathways into jobs at the facility, like maintenance or manufacturing technicians, with the Fort Zumwalt School District and National Institute for Industry and Career Advancement, she said.
“We need to raise awareness about opportunities here in St. Charles County, and to work more closely with schools on raising that awareness and letting students know what is possible in your own backyard,” Chaney said.
The roles can have starting pay between $17 and $20 an hour and have opportunities to advance, she added.
“Anytime you can get 130 high tech jobs in a cutting edge part of technology in a much needed globally demanded product, that’s a great thing for your community,” said Scott Drachnik, President and CEO of the St. Charles County Economic Development Council. “It’s good for our county, for the metro area and for the rest of the country.”
Drachnik noted this federal support comes after other large financial commitments to the region in recent years by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and companies like Boeing and General Motors.
“And now this continued expansion of MEMC, high tech manufacturing and high tech business opportunities and services are growing and finding themselves at the center of things in Metro St. Louis and St. Charles County,” he said.
It reflects St. Louis’ position to play a crucial role in global supply chains that depend on advanced manufacturing, said Maggie Kost, who leads the business attraction team at Greater St. Louis Inc. She added it’s good news for the St. Louis region where manufacturing plays an important role in the local economy.
“One of the incredible strengths of this region is our ability to get products in and out across the country and across the globe,” she said. “And that's why you're seeing companies that are critical in supply chains located here in this region. It’s not just folks putting that final product together, it’s the folks along that supply chain as well.”
