Polar Semiconductor, a manufacturer of power and sensor chips, is the first company to be officially awarded under the Biden administration's CHIPS Act.

Polar Semiconductor is jointly owned by Allegro and Sunken Electric, and is a supplier of 200 millimeter wafers. The company has 750 employees and turned over $230 million in 2023. It is a relative puppy among the big dogs of the chip industry that are collectively attracting billions of dollars in CHIP Act funding.

The Biden administration has finalized its first binding award under the Chips and Science Act: a $123 million grant to Polar Semiconductor that officials say could double the company’s US manufacturing capacity within two years.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it had finalized a $123 million grant for Polar Semiconductor to expand its plant in Minnesota, which would allow the company to nearly double its U.S. production capacity of power and sensor chips.

The Biden-Harris administration has announced the first binding award from the U.S. Chips and Science Act since allocating over half of the $52 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing.

The US Department of Commerce has approved a $123 million grant to Polar Semiconductor, enabling the company to significantly expand its chip manufacturing facility in Minnesota. This expansion will almost double its production capacity for power and sensor chips,