The Department of Commerce has signed a preliminary memorandum of terms with Bosch to provide proposed funding of $225 million to expand the company’s silicon carbide, a.k.a. SiC, factory in Roseville, California.
Under the non-binding PMT, the United States would support Bosch’s investment of $1.9 billion to modernize its SiC manufacturing facility under the CHIPS and Science Act, enabling the company to produce chips on 200-millimeter wafers starting in 2026, the Commerce Department said Friday. Bosch also plans to conduct front-end device manufacturing and backend testing, sorting and dicing processes in the factory.
Accelerating Innovation, Advancing US Tech Leadership
According to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, SiC chips are critical components for several industries, including the defense sector, because they use less energy. “One of the core missions of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act is to make targeted investments across every part of the semiconductor industry to accelerate innovation and advance U.S. technology leadership,” she explained.
Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America, noted that the federal government’s investment support will allow the company to accelerate its SiC production, thus advancing U.S. consumers on the path to electrification. “Producing this key technology in the U.S. underscores our leadership in the mobility market,” Thomas stressed.
New Employment Opportunities
The Commerce Department projects that the proposed federal funding would support Bosch’s target of ramping up its factory’s production capacity. The agency also estimates that the investment would generate up to 1,700 new employment opportunities in California, including construction, manufacturing, engineering, and research and development jobs.
