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The
planned award to the semiconductor packaging provider, an
affliate of SKC Co, which in turn is part of South Korea's
second-largest conglomerate SK Group, is to come from the U.S.
government's $52.7 billion U.S. semiconductor chips
manufacturing and subsidy fund.
The funds will develop technology for advanced packaging,
marking the first commercial facility to support the
semiconductor supply chain with a new advanced material.
The Commerce Department said the award will also support 1,000
construction jobs and 200 manufacturing and R&D jobs in
Covington, Georgia.
Absolics’ glass substrate allows for processing and memory chips
to be packed into a single device allowing for faster, more
efficient computing.
The company, which was created in 2021, broke ground on the
Georgia plant in November 2022. Applied Materials is an
investor.
CEO Jun Rok Oh said in a statement the proposed funding will
allow the company "to fully commercialize our pioneering glass
substrate technology for use in high-performance computing and
cutting-edge defense applications."
The Commerce Department said glass substrates from Absolics will
be used to boost performance of leading-edge chips for AI and
data centers.
Last month, SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip
maker, said it would invest $3.87 billion to build an advanced
packaging plant and R&D facility for AI products in Indiana.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who previously noted the
advanced packaging substrates market is currently concentrated
in Asia, has made advanced packaging a priority and said last
year "the U.S. will develop multiple high-volume advanced
packaging facilities."
In November, the Commerce Department disclosed details of its
plans to spend $3 billion in support of advanced packaging.
The same month, Amkor Technology said it would spend $2 billion
to build a new advanced packaging and test facility in Arizona
that will package and test chips for Apple produced at a nearby
Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC facility.
That department recently announced several major proposed awards
from the chips program including $8.5 billion in grants for
Intel, $6.6 billion for TSMC, $6.4 billion for South Korea's
Samsung and $6.1 billion for memory chip maker Micron
Technology.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nivedita
Bhattacharjee)
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