HOMETOWN – At one time, eastern Pennsylvania was a major hub of semiconductor manufacturing, helping make the United States a world-leader in the industry. A U.S. Senator wants that to change and was in Schuylkill County Tuesday at a site integral to the manufacturing process.
Senator Bob Casey visited EMD Electronics off Marian Avenue, the former Air Products plant to learn about their operations.
The company, the successor to Air Products and Versum Materials, unveiled a e$300 Million, 96,500-square-foot expansion to the plant last year.
At Hometown, they manufacture specialty gases integral to semiconductor manufacturing and, last year, company officials called the plant an important innovation hub, where researchers are working on more efficient and environmentally-friendly gases, some of which they called “game-changing.”
“It’s remarkable that, right here in Schuylkill County, you have a world-class manufacturing facility which is producing gases that allow us to be able to be a world-leader in semiconductors,” Casey said. “It’s a workforce here that is highly skilled that, not only the people of Schuylkill County can be proud of, but I think the whole state can be proud of.”
“You’ve got world-class manufacturing happening right here that is connected to one of our major national priorities,” Casey added. “We have to continue to be a leader in semiconductors. There’s no choice about that.”
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – U.S. Senator Bob Casey with EMD Operations Director Karl Nolte.
Casey also spoke of the “dramatic step” of passing the Chips and Science Act.
“Rarely have you seen Democrats and Republicans coming together on a major public investment, in addition to all of the private sector investment that that spurred,” Casey said. “The reason we had to do that is, for awhile, we were the undisputed leader in semiconductor manufacturing.
He said that, in the 1990s, he believed the U.S. was producing a third of the semiconductors in the world.
At that time, Reading and Allentown were major hubs for such manufacturing, with Western Electric operating in both cities, and the region is sometimes referred to as the first Silicon Valley. According to the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, Western Electric first mass-produced transistors — the forerunner to semiconductors — in the Queen City.
The eventual successor to Western Electric, Agere Technology — headquartered in Allentown — closed their plants there and in Reading in 2003. A few years later, the headquarters closed and moved to Texas following a merger.
“I think a lot of people probably take it for granted, but virtually everything we own that we rely upon every day… have those chips in them,” Casey said.
Internationally, Casey added that domestic semiconductor production is especially important should China invade Taiwan, another major producer of semiconductors.
Read More: Casey says recent federal investments in Shenandoah, Schuylkill ‘unprecedented’
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