The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has awarded polysilicon producer Hemlock Semiconductor up to US$325 million in direct funding.
The funding was made under the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication facilities and aims to secure US-made production of semiconductor-grade polysilicon.
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It will be directed towards the construction of a new manufacturing facility in Hemlock, Michigan that will create 180 manufacturing jobs and over 1,000 construction jobs.
“CHIPS for America’s investment in HSC will help advance supply chain security by ensuring the US has a reliable, domestic supply of polysilicon – the bedrock of semiconductors,” said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
“Establishing a domestic source of these materials is important for development of leading-edge chip applications, which helps bolster our economic and national security.”
The award follows a preliminary memorandum of terms signed back in October. Funds will distributed based on the polysilicon producer’s completion of project milestones, said the DoC.
No details regarding the annual nameplate capacity and how much would be used for solar production, if any, have been disclosed so far. However, production is targeted to begin in 2028.
This funding from the DoC towards the construction of a new domestic manufacturing facility comes only days after polysilicon producer REC Silicon announced it was ceasing production of polysilicon at its Moses Lake, Washington, plant.
According to the company, the shutdown follows failed attempts to increase the purity of its polysilicon product – based on Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) technology for granular polysilicon – which led to a failed qualification test announced on 17th December 2024.
Outside the US, two Chinese polysilicon producers – Tongwei Solar and Daqo New Energy – recently announced production cuts of polysilicon in order to minimise price competition of the material.
