On January 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Coherent signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to $79 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. The proposed CHIPS funding would support the expansion of Coherent’s existing manufacturing facility in Easton, Pennsylvania.
- The proposed CHIPS funding to increase the production capacity of 150mm and 200mm silicon carbide (SiC) substrates.
- The proposed investment would also support the expansion of the facility’s SiC epitaxial wafer manufacturing capacity, the back-end of-line processing, electronic performance, and reliability testing capabilities. SiC substrates are an important bandgap material with end uses in energy and military applications.
- CHIPS for America’s proposed investment to expand Coherent’s production capacity in Easton could increase its substrate capacity by over 750,000 substrates per year and more than double the output of epitaxial wafers per year.
- The proposed project is expected to create 320 manufacturing jobs and 40 construction jobs.