Local & Statewide News

New federal incentives to lure hi-tech jobs to US, Ohio

WYSO | By Kathryn Mobley

Published October 6, 2022 at 1:48 PM EDT

According to their press release, Silfex, a division of Lam Research Corporation, makes the parts that are used in the equipment that semiconductor manufacturers use to make chips. Silfex was established more than a decade ago with the goal of reshoring silicon growing and processing to the United States.

A new $54 billion federal incentive program may make Ohio very attractive to hi-tech companies.

The CHIPS ACT offers investment tax credits and grants to semiconductor and wireless manufacturing companies to boost domestic research and manufacturing across the United States.

According to Ohio's U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) , the more a company invests its dollars and resources to build facilities in the U.S. and to hire American workers, that company will then be eligible for deeper federal tax breaks. New construction sites must be underway before January 1 2027.

“It's an investment we make in workers, an investment we make in technology, an investment we make in our country,” Senator Brown said.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said, "Places like Silfex and Lam Research recognized the threat from foreign companies stealing our ideas. They bucked the trend and brought silicon growing and processing back to the U.S. and now we are creating an economy that puts American jobs and American production and American workers first.” — "Places like Silfex and Lam Research recognized the threat from foreign companies stealing our ideas. They bucked the trend and brought silicon growing and processing back to the U.S. and now we are creating an economy that puts American jobs and American production and American workers first," Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said in a press release.

Wednesday, Senator Brown visited Silfex in Springfield. The company creates precision components used to make and operate semi-conductor manufacturing equipment, vital to the global electronics industry.

The CHIPS ACT also provides funds for supply chain innovation, for advanced microelectronics research and development as well as for educating and training workers.

“For some it'll be a college degree. For some it'll be community college or coming out of high school with joint vocational trade skills or the apprentice programs that the electricians, carpenters, pipe fitters and sheet metal workers go through,” explained Senator Brown.

The measure has bipartisan support. The federal tax credits go into affect after mid-December.