ODON— Almost one year ago, Governor Eric Holcomb was joined by Crane, micro processing chip company leaders, and local officials in announcing construction of a major fab plant to build next-generation micro processing chips in the Daviess County portion of the WestGate@Crane Technology Park. Everyone grabbed a shovel and turned some dirt at the time. Since then, no more dirt has moved on the project.
Officials say Westgate One, with its millions of dollars in investments and hundreds of jobs, is still on its way, but the pieces have not gone together as smoothly as expected.
“We are in constant communication with the developer and they have continued to advance the design. There are a lot of folks to manage because there are so many partners involved in this,” said Executive Director for Uplands Science and Technology Foundation Bryant Niehoff. “It is a complicated building, one of the first of its kind. I think there is a lot of equipment that has to go through due diligence compared to your normal big box development project.”
The project began at $300 million and involved four chip development and production companies. It was expected to employ more than 500 people at a pay scale of up to $80 per hour. There have been multiple reports since the initial announcement that the project has expanded.
“I think this shows just how complicated these projects are,” said Niehoff. “I don’t think there is anything to be worried about because of the delay. At USTF, we are coordinating with them on land development standpoint, working with everyone to get the infrastructure in place to get this underway.”
Perhaps, one of the reasons the project seems to be getting slowwalked is that it is different from any development attempted in the U.S.
At the time of the groundbreaking, Robert Patti with NHanced Semiconductors, called the facility the first purpose-built advanced packaging and manufacturing factory in the world.
“I think it is important that everyone is on the same page. On most construction projects, there are some things to overlap the process. It will be interesting to see what that does to the timeline,” said Niehoff. “These projects are following the funding that is coming from the CHIPS and Science Act. That has been a bit of a moving target. It could mean that the aggressive target date they had has been pushed back.”
The project in Daviess County is not alone. A fab facility announced last fall as part of a project with SkyWater Technology and Purdue University near Lafayette is also sitting on the table. There is still no hard date on when actual construction will begin. The chips from the plant are wanted by the Navy and there is pressure to get the plant up and moving, but it is unlikely to be ready by the end of 2024 when naval officials had hoped to get the first chips.
“Everyone has their head down and is headed toward the construction,” said Niehoff. “With this one, you run into the unexpected.”
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