$1.8B semiconductor plant planned next to Purdue's campus

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - SkyWater Technology announced plans Wednesday to build a $1.8 million semiconductor manufacturing and research center adjacent to Purdue University's main campus that's expected to create 750 new jobs within five years of its opening.

Bloomington, Minnesota-based SkyWater aims to build the 600,000-square-foot plant at Purdue's Discovery Park District, a 400-acre, mixed-use development adjacent to the West Lafayette campus that gives investing companies access to Purdue faculty experts.

The project, a partnership with Purdue, will house advanced, next-generation fabrication facilities and allow SkyWater to respond to increasing customer demand for access to domestic development, manufacturing and advanced packaging for microelectronics, officials said.

The plant, which will includes 100,000 square feet of cleanroom space, will depend on SkyWater receiving federal funds aimed at supporting companies that build semiconductor manufacturing plants in the U.S.

'œFederal investment will enable SkyWater to more quickly expand our efforts to address the need for strategic reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing,'ť said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater president and CEO.

Based on the company's plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has committed to provide SkyWater up to $29 million in conditional tax credits and $1 million in training grants, among other incentives.

Gov. Eric Holcomb, who joined Purdue President Mitch Daniels, SkyWater executives and others at Wednesday's announcement, said the project shows that Indiana is 'œcultivating an environment that enables innovators such as SkyWater to choose Indiana."