The US government will provide optical solutions developer Infinera with more than $90 million for the construction of a new plant.

The US Department of Commerce and Infinera signed a preliminary memorandum of conditions (PMT) providing funds for the company’s construction of a new production site as well as a testing center.

Infinera specializes in indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits (InP PICs) that use light to efficiently transmit information at high speed. Such solutions are used to connect AI clusters in data centers and to connect the data centers themselves. In June 2024, Nokia announced the acquisition of Infinera for $2.3 billion.

As part of the signed memorandum, Infinera will receive $93 million in accordance with the CHIPS and Science Act in force in the United States. It provides for the allocation of funds to support research and stimulate the production of semiconductor products in the country.

Image source: Infinera

The US government-funded project includes the construction of a new Infinera plant in San Jose, California, and an advanced testing and packaging facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is expected that up to 1,200 jobs will be created during the construction phase. Once the plants are operational, Infinera’s existing production capacity in the US will increase approximately 10-fold. It is planned to create up to 500 jobs at the new facilities.

It is noted that about 3,700 m2 of clean rooms will be created at the San Jose plant. InP PIC products will be manufactured here to meet existing and future customer needs. The Bethlehem center will, in turn, conduct research and development activities related to new optical chip packaging technologies, such as 2.5D and 3D packaging.