Applied Materials was denied funding from the U.S. CHIPS & Science Act for its proposed $4 billion research and development center in Sunnyvale, California, reports Bloomberg. This decision is significant setback to the company's efforts to establish a major facility in Silicon Valley.
Applied Materials had been promoting this project for over a year, hoping to secure U.S. government support to build a large-scale R&D center that would develop next-generation chipmaking tools. The rejection came from the U.S. Commerce Department, which concluded that the project did not meet the necessary criteria for the funding program designed for large manufacturing projects. The Bloomberg report does not specify why Applied's project does not meet U.S. government's criteria for support; the Commerce Department didn't comment to the publication with any specificity. This could mean that makers of wafer fab equipment will unlikely get support under the CHIPS Act in general, the Bloomberg report suggests.
