Dive Brief:
- Chemical manufacturer EMD Electronics plans to invest $300 million to expand its semiconductor factory in Hometown, Pennsylvania.
- The investment will advance the company's semiconductor materials business in North America and Europe, creating 68 technician and engineer jobs and one of the world's most extensive integrated specialty gas facilities.
- The investment is part of EMD Electronics’ owner Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's "Level Up" program, which aims to spend more than $3.5 billion to accelerate the company’s electronics business by 2025
Dive Insight:
EMD Electronics’ investment in Pennsylvania is one of several it has planned for the U.S. The company plans to spend approximately $1 billion on scaling its R&D and manufacturing capacity in Arizona, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
The company’s focus on semiconductors is paying off – its semiconductor solutions sales rose 15.4% in 2022, accounting for two-thirds of its transactions, according to the company's FY2022 earnings report. It's also one of parent company Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's key growth drivers, alongside life science and healthcare products, the company told Manufacturing Dive in an email.
"Having domestic production capacity for critical electronics components has become a high priority for many economies," Kai Beckmann, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany CEO of Electronics, said in an April 12 statement. "As the brains of modern electronics, semiconductors enable technology critical to economic growth and global competitiveness. We're poised to support our customers as the most local of global partners in the inextricable rise of semiconductor innovation."
EMD Electronics expects to begin operations at its planned manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona by mid-2023. The Phoenix site will primarily produce equipment for its delivery systems and services business.
