Semiconductor to expand Durham facility and add jobs with new CHIPS funding

Driving the news: The U.S. Commerce Department said the investment would create 350 jobs across Durham and Lowell.

• The components MACOM makes for radio frequency products are important to the U.S. because of their use in defense and radar systems as well as telecommunications equipment, per the Commerce Department.

MACOM has not yet responded to a request for comment on how many jobs will be added in Durham.

• In a release, the company said it plans to expand its clean room facilities in Durham, upgrade its utilities infrastructure there and install new manufacturing capabilities.

Context: The funding is the third investment the Triangle has landed from the federal CHIPS Act, a signature policy of the Biden administration to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductors and computer chips.

• Wolfspeed's manufacturing facility under construction in Chatham County, which could eventually employ 1,800 workers, is in line for $750 million from the CHIPS Act.

• It also awarded the Durham nonprofit Semiconductor Research Corporation a $285 million grant to establish and operate a new manufacturing institute in Durham that will study domestic semiconductor production.

Zoom in: The grant can be, in part, traced back to the work of Wolfspeed in the Triangle.

• In 2023, MACOM acquired Wolfspeed's radio frequency business after Wolfspeed decided to focus fully on its silicon carbide chips business.

What's next: It remains unclear how the incoming Trump administration will treat the implementation of the CHIPS Act or if it will make any changes to it, Axios has reported.