THIS WEEK: Commerce Announces Major Proposed CHIPS Act Funding in PA, CA & NC, Approves Over $2.5B for AL and FL BEAD Proposals, Awards $6.3M for Idaho’s Digital Equity Plan, Designates Nation’s Third Largest Marine Sanctuary
This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced major investments across the country that will help create new good-paying manufacturing and construction jobs, expand access to affordable, reliable and high-speed Internet service, and reached a milestone that will boost recreation, tourism, and other local industries in Tribal and Indigenous communities in the West coast.
See below local coverage from across the country of these announcements:
In Pennsylvania and California, DOC and Infinera have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to $93 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. The proposed funding would support the construction of a new fab in San Jose, CA and a new advanced test and packaging facility in Bethlehem, PA. Across both projects, this proposed investment would support the creation of up to 500 manufacturing jobs and 1,200 construction jobs.
In North Carolina, DOC and Wolfspeed, Inc. have signed a non-binding PMT to provide up to $750 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. This would support the construction of a new silicon carbide wafer manufacturing facility in Siler City, NC, helping secure a reliable domestic supply of the semiconductors that will underpin the future energy economy and AI boom. This proposed CHIPS investment is also expected to catalyze planned expansion of Wolfspeed’s device manufacturing facility in Marcy, NY. The projects together are estimated to create over 2,000 manufacturing jobs and 3,000 construction jobs and are part of the company’s previously announced more than $6 billion capacity expansion plan.
In Alabama and Florida, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved initial proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s "Internet for All" initiative. This combined funding of over $2.5 billion will enable both states to request access to funding, begin implementation of the BEAD program, and take the first steps to meet the President’s goal of connecting everyone in America with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.
In Idaho, NTIA awarded more than $6.3 million to implement Idaho’s Digital Equity Plan. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Thanks for this investment, Idaho will be able to use the funding to implement key digital equity initiatives like cybersecurity and digital skills training, programs to provide device refurbishment centers, and award public libraries and other institutions devices for loaning and in-facility community use.
In California, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is designating 4,543 square miles of coastal and offshore waters along 116 miles of California’s central coast as America’s 17th – and 3rd largest – national marine sanctuary. Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will conserve the area’s diverse range of marine life and celebrate Indigenous peoples’ connections to the region. This sanctuary designation advances President Biden’s ocean conservation legacy and his "America the Beautiful" initiative, which supports locally-led collaborative conservation efforts across the country and sets a national goal of protecting, conserving, and restoring at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
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