MN Governor Tim Walz Addresses Crowd at Polar Semiconductor

On Tuesday, May 9th, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz addressed a crowd of nearly 100 people at Polar Semiconductor’s Bloomington facility. The Governor was invited to speak during the FOA (Fab Owners Alliance) event, a two-day gathering of semiconductor industry leaders from around the country.

“The state needs to be good partners,” said Walz, touting support for workforce development and semiconductor industry expansion. The companies of the Fab Owners Alliance, a SEMI technology community, are counting on a piece of the $52.7 billion in money from the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, legislation that President Joe Biden pushed after a semiconductor chip shortage caused backlogs in almost all manufacturing, including automobiles and computers.

Polar’s hope is that these federal subsidies—along with Governor Walz’s budget of $500M (Minnesota Forward Fund) in matching funds for hi-tech and bio-industrial manufacturing in Minnesota—will help Polar fund a capacity and capability upgrade that will cost Polar at least $400M and double the output at our Bloomington plant. For more details, check out our recent article on what the CHIPS Act could mean to Polar Semiconductor.

To learn more about the FOA event, you can read the full Star Tribune article.