FILE - The exterior of a building on the HP campus in Corvallis on March 6, 2023.
Chris Lehman / KLCC
Technology company HP Inc. has been awarded $53 million to expand its Corvallis facilities as part of a larger effort to boost computer chip development in the U.S., the federal government announced Monday.
The money comes from the federal CHIPS and Science Act, which is meant to strengthen and grow advanced computer chip manufacturing in the country. HP manufactures personal computers and related devices, and company leaders say it provides crucial research and manufacturing to support the wider semiconductor industry. With barely a week remaining before the Biden Administration ends, the funding is another reminder of a federal priority of the last four years.
“Companies like HP are developing the technologies that will spur unprecedented breakthroughs for generations to come,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “By investing in companies and research and development projects across the semiconductor ecosystem, the Biden-Harris administration is helping to build and secure the domestic semiconductor capabilities that will help the United States continue to outcompete and out-build the rest of the world.”
The proposed federal CHIPS funding was first announced in August when the government and HP signed a preliminary memorandum of terms. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed that it will disburse up to $53 million to HP after the completion of project milestones. President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the federal legislation, but industry experts who spoke with CNBC expect that he’ll largely leave the CHIPS Act intact.
The semiconductor industry is one of Oregon’s largest employers with more than 30,000 workers, according to state data.
Securing federal funding to support the industry has been a priority for state leaders, and the Oregon Legislature even passed its own version of the CHIPS Act. The roughly $200 million package is meant to support companies also receiving federal funds. Last year, HP received $9.5 million from the state to spend on the same expansion project in Corvallis that the just-announced federal funding is directed toward.
Among other things, the federal CHIPS funding will help support HP’s manufacturing of silicon devices used in life sciences lab equipment for medical research, according to the Biden Administration. The expansion could create 150 temporary construction jobs and more than 100 manufacturing positions.