Technology materials supplier EMD Electronics is building a $300-million expansion of its manufacturing site in Hometown, Pa., to produce a gas used in the production of semiconductors.
EMD, a North American electronics subsidiary of German company Merck KGaA, has picked H.T. Lyons, ON-Board Engineering and IMC Construction for the project, an EMD spokesperson says. They expect the project to support about 120 construction jobs.
The 45,000-sq-ft facility at EMD’s 375-acre eastern Pennsylvania site would be used to produce tungsten hexafluoride, a gas used to apply metal coatings during the manufacturing of semiconductors. EMD claims the Hometown project will create the world’s largest integrated specialty gases facility. Work is expected to finish early next year.
EMD announced its plans for the project April 12 after reaching an agreement with Pennsylvania officials with incentivized investment and job creation goals. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office says the state’s Dept. of Community and Economic Development offered EMD grants totaling more than $1.1 million. Shapiro said in a statement that Pennsylvania is “going to be a leader in the semiconductor industry.”
The project comes as the Biden administration is working to increase domestic production of semiconductors, and manufacturers including Intel, TSMC, Texas Instruments and others have moved to build new semiconductor plants known as “fabs” in the U.S. Kai Beckmann, a member of Merck’s executive board and CEO of its electronics business, said in a statement that “the demand for semiconductor materials remains very promising long term.”
“Having domestic production capacity for critical electronics components has become a high priority for many economies,” Beckmann said. “As the brains of modern electronics, semiconductors enable technology critical to economic growth and global competitiveness.”
The Biden administration has pointed to economic and national security reasons for looking to re-shore semiconductor manufacturing following decades of movement to Asia in the sector and shortages caused by supply chain issues during coronavirus lockdowns. To incentivize manufacturers to add U.S. production, lawmakers included $39 billion in last year’s Chips and Science Act to support plant construction.
EMD’s Pennsylvania expansion is part of $3.5 billion the company says it plans to invest in “innovation and capacity expansion projects” by 2025. The firm says it also plans to invest in projects in Arizona, California and Texas.
