The Department of Commerce has provisionally agreed to provide up to $93 million in direct funding to optical networking vendor Infinera which would support the construction of a new fab in San Jose, California, and a new advanced test and packaging facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
“We are grateful for the bipartisan efforts under the CHIPS and Science Act to increase semiconductor fabrication and packaging in the US and protect our national and economic security,” said Infinera CEO David Heard. “The proposed CHIPS funding will enable us to better secure our supply chain and compete more effectively with foreign adversary nations. Our unique photonic semiconductors address the increased demand for bandwidth from consumers while opening new markets inside the data center driven by the explosive growth in AI workloads.”
The Department of Commerce further noted that Infinera will offer a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, allowing employees to set aside up to $5k a year of pre-tax money to use on qualified dependent care expenses. The company has also implemented a parental leave benefit for mothers and now offers a childcare assistance program via the State Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship (ERiCA) Grant, which aims to support women, non-binary, and underserved communities interested in taking up a career in the building and construction industry.
