Nature of the KSMC Rural Regional Semiconductor Manufacturing Cluster

01 Invest in U.S.

02 Assure Supply

Assure a sufficient, sustainable, and secure supply of older and current generation chips for national security purposes and for critical manufacturing industries.

KSMC will meet this objective by creating a “measurably secure” environment where neighboring facilities can quickly shift fabrication lines to meet the demands of national security clients as well as meet commercial demand. A variety of semiconductor tools located in educational institutions as well as in the leading edge measurably secure fab will accelerate the cluster's ability both to augment workforce development and to prototype new GaN devices.

03 Strengthen R&D

Strengthen U.S. semiconductor research and development (R&D) leadership to catalyze and capture the next set of critical technologies, applications, and industries.

KSMC will invest in and support the maintenance of education and training facilities that are accessible to local of institutions. As a result of this investment, these schools will develop and adopt educational content and create internship programs for in-class and on-the-job education and training.

04 Grow Diverse Workforce

Grow a diverse semiconductor workforce and build strong communities that participate in the prosperity of the semiconductor industry.

By leveraging local resources, KSMC will provide workforce training for high paying, highly skilled careers. The campus will support facilities for on-site dormitories, daycare, and cafeteria. KSMC will establish mass transportation to and from population hubs in Topeka, Kansas City, and Wichita. These benefits and services will promote inclusion from marginalized populations by providing the workforce with peace-of-mind tangible benefits that allow potential employees to gain the education and extensive training needed to contribute to the mission of KSMC. Diversity and inclusion will not just be targets for temporary construction of labor. KSMC is committed to promoting diversity at all levels of the consortium. The group currently includes minority and women-owned manufacturing partners, women and disabled veteran-owned construction partners, and the immediate region includes a pool of talented potential workforce members in a number of economically disadvantaged communities in and adjacent to Coffey County.

Manufacturing partner EMP Shield is in Burlington and produces a variety of electrical components that are vital to national critical infrastructure. At the request of National Security entities including Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy and other governmental agencies, a Gallium Nitride foundry was planned. The demand comes from these existing clients to help address long standing and emerging threats that the current market have been unable and unwilling to meet. EMP Shield’s order book predates the CHIPS Act and plays a vital role in this venture, while meeting defense and intelligence community requirements. Coffey County has demonstrated a strong commitment to local economic development for decades, including incentives to assist EMP Shield in a recent effort to secure additional manufacturing space that was needed to expand and keep its commitment to manufacturing vital products domestically. Any future funding that might be received by EMP Shield will augment the County’s previous inducements and investments.

Key component manufacturers and processing lines will co-locate on the same campus to provide all the necessary transistors, capacitors, grommets, printed circuit boards, power supplies, and dicing and packaging required to meet EMP Shield’s demand and those of other commercial and U.S. Government clients. This synergy will allow KSMC to meet the existing and emerging needs of their clientele by providing a “measurably secure” - fully audited chain of custody - that is mandated by both the Act and the nature of the products produced.

Defense Technology

Flint Hills Technical College (FHTC) is located in Emporia and is a 30-minute commute from the site of the new industrial campus. The college trains and provides almost all of the operators for the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant, as well as similar plants located throughout the United States and around the World. It is one of a handful of Institutions within the country that has the authority to award operator certificates to students upon completion of their program(s). This program was established in cooperation with the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant located in Coffey County just outside of Burlington. Flint Hills Technical College was established in 1963 by the local School Board to reinforce STEM education and feed students to the Power Plant. The local school district is highly distinguished and recognized across Kansas for producing top test scores. Together, these institutions will provide the types of trainable future workforce participants necessary to populate the KSMC campus.

EMP Shield has secured an ASML microchips stepper tool that will be put in service to provide workforce training on fabrication processes through FHTC. This investment will provide a unique training opportunity for local students. This tool will initially be used to build silicon chips domestically for EMP Shield product lines that are currently being sourced in the Czech Republic and Costa Rica. This tool will be in service by mid 2023, well before GaN fab comes online. The need for these components is immediate. In fact, the need is sooner than the CHIPS Act can provide. It is estimated that approximately 90% of all dicing is done in Malaysia. The KSMC campus will bring a complete component manufacturing, including dicing and packaging operation onshore to Kansas - not a foreign country.

As the KSMC enterprise continues to evolve, another two-year educational institution, Allen Community College in Iola, KS, has recently expressed a strong interest in partnering with the consortium to provide additional workforce development and training programs as needed.