In a remote corner of the Upper Peninsula, an electronics company is pioneering technology important to the defense industry, aerospace engineering, electric vehicles and cell phones.
Calumet Electronics Corp. was the first to manufacture organic substrates in the United States. The move caught the attention of the Pentagon.
said Todd Brassard, vice president of Calumet Electronics. “Many Michiganders have figured out how to do things that other people in this country can't figure out how to do.”
Calumet Electronics won $39.9 million from the U.S. Department of Defense late last year to expand production of so-called high-density build-up boards. The funding will help build his new $51 million circuit board factory on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
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Organic substrates, about the size of credit cards, are used as connection layers in semiconductor manufacturing. Simply put, a semiconductor chip is connected to a board, and the board is connected to a circuit board.
“We call this whole thing the advanced package,” Brassard says. “There's a lot of work going on in the U.S. to ramp up advanced packaging manufacturing. Asia is much, much, much more advanced than the U.S. by 20 years.”
Over 30 years, the U.S. share of semiconductor manufacturing capacity fell from 37% to 12% as other countries invested heavily in advanced manufacturing. And there is no other major supplier of advanced organic substrates in this country.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. chipmakers lack the ability to manufacture some of the most sophisticated technologies needed for production. As a result, U.S. manufacturers rely on Taiwan, China, and Singapore for semiconductor assembly and packaging.
However, offshore also comes with risks.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, led to a global semiconductor shortage and temporarily crippled Detroit's auto industry. Geopolitical tensions have also heightened national security concerns, as defense systems rely on chips not made in the United States.
“If we have to resort to offshore, we see the potential for business to be cut off,” Brassard said.
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The CHIPS and Science Act, passed two years ago, committed $52 billion to revive the domestic semiconductor industry. The goal was to strengthen U.S. manufacturing, supply chains, and national security through incentives and workforce development funding.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense supports manufacturing projects “to meet national and homeland security requirements.” Through the Defense Production Act Title III program, the agency awarded him $1.7 billion in 2022 and $1.2 billion last year. This is a significant increase from the $102 million awarded five years ago.
Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial infrastructure policy, said the Biden administration has made it a priority to support America's advanced packaging industry.
“These technologies are critical to modern weapons systems and will help maintain our nation's combat advantage against potential adversaries,” she said in a statement about the Calmette Electronics Prize.
Calumet Electronics is proud to be the first in Japan to crack the code on organic substrates.
“What we can do is be a beacon of hope and light for our national economic security and help pave the way to show that it's possible in America. And it's not impossible.” said Meredith Labeau, Chief Technology Officer.
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The Upper Peninsula Company was founded in 1968 to create jobs after the last copper mine closed in Calumet, a town of about 600 people. Since then, the company has become a leader in the semiconductor industry, producing chips for the aerospace, defense, medical, communications, and industrial control sectors.
Labou said the company was forged by Copper Country's “grit and tenacity.”
“We are extremely proud to be working with Michigan Technological University, a local university in a rural setting that has the grit, determination, and technology-oriented discipline to solve unsolved problems in the country. ” she said.
Calumet Electronics broke ground on the 60,000-square-foot circuit board factory last October and plans to begin production by spring 2025. The first-of-its-kind facility also received a $7.5 million grant and tax breaks worth $758,877. state.
The funds will be used to build new facilities and renovate the current campus, which employs 350 people.
“What we are building in the future is more challenging than what we have built in the past, and it requires us to upgrade our systems and improve the skills of many of our employees,” Brassard said. he said. “We’re like a 55-year-old startup now.”
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This investment is also evidence of major changes in the Upper Peninsula.
Economies long dependent on forestry, mining and tourism have found a new pillar: technology. Companies like Calumet Electronics, Orbion Space Technology and DeployedTech have fostered his $105 million technology hub in the Upper Peninsula. From 2021 to 2022, the entrepreneur founded his 34 new technology companies.
Calumet Electronics' rise also helps reshape the narrative about rural areas.
“We have a product here that is critical to the supply chain, critical to the Department of Defense, and it's manufactured in Keweenaw, as far north as you can go in Michigan,” said Chief Executive Officer Marty Fittante. said the CEO. Investment up. “Yet they have the means, capability and sophistication to do it quickly.”
Fittante believes it could open the door for future investments.
Michigan Technological University in Houghton won an $838,000 grant last year to expand its semiconductor program. Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer Billerud plans to spend $1 billion renovating its Escanaba mill. And the U.S. Department of Defense last year provided funding to a mining developer seeking to find nickel in the Upper Peninsula.
“You may now have a culture that revolves around where new technology can lead,” Fittante said.
