Dive Brief:
- The Department of Commerce will offer HP Inc. up to $50 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding for the expansion and modernization of its Corvallis, Oregon, facility, the government announced Tuesday.
- The expansion will help with the manufacturing of silicon devices associated with drug discovery and other medical applications, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said in the announcement.
- The expansion will create nearly 150 construction jobs and over 100 manufacturing jobs.
Dive Insight:
The funding will support HP's "lab-to-fab" ecosystem in Corvallis, which engages in research and development and commercial manufacturing operations.
HP's microfluidics and microelectromechanical systems technology aims to improve the performance of semiconductor hardware.
“Microfluidics has the potential to drive revolutionary changes across industries, delivering speed, efficiency, and precision, to help pave the way for the next generation of innovation in life sciences and technology,” HP CEO and President Enrique Lores said in a statement.
For the project’s workforce, HP is partnering with local educational institutions like Portland Community College and is involved in the National Science Foundation's Engines Development Program to advance semiconductor technologies.
HP will seek the Department of the Treasury’s Investment Tax Credit for the project as well.
For the same project, HP received $9.5 million from the state in January as part of the Oregon CHIPS Act, a $190 million package meant to support the federal legislation, according to a press release.
California-based HP has been in Corvallis for 47 years. The company donated a 25-year lease of a portion of its Corvallis campus to Oregon State University in 2008, according to the release. The 80,000-square-foot manufacturing and R&D facility has incubated 39 companies like Nvidia and Siemens, including 20 that spun out from OSU faculty and students.
The Corvallis Microfluidics Tech Hub provides resources for startups and entrepreneurs to build innovative products locally in Oregon.
The state is home to 206 semiconductor companies, with 30 coming in the last five years, according to a July CHIPS fact sheet. Since the CHIPS Act was passed in 2022, Oregon has announced over $40 billion in private sector investment.
Some of the investments have also received federal and state CHIPS funding. In January, The Commerce Department awarded Microchip Technology $72 million in federal CHIPS funds as well as $11 million in state funds for a fab in Gresham. In March, Intel was also awarded up to 8.5 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS Act to be used in one of four facilities, including a fab in Hillsboro, Oregon. The state CHIPS fund gave Intel $115 million for the project.
