Cantwell Tours Spokane Facility Playing a Leading Role in U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing
Honeywell facility in Spokane is the only U.S. based supplier of copper manganese components used to manufacture advanced and leading-edge logic chips - the kind found in products like smartphones, high-performance jets
SPOKANE, WA – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), toured the Honeywell manufacturing facility in Spokane to see firsthand the technology that is crucial to maintaining U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing. As the only U.S.-based supplier of copper manganese components used to manufacture advanced and leading-edge logic chips – the kind found in products like smartphones, high-performance jets – the facility is crucial to economic growth and national security.
“Workers in Spokane and at Honeywell are leading America’s competitiveness,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Spokane-based companies like Honeywell are upskilling workers and providing well-paying jobs while securing a domestic supply chain for our semiconductor ecosystem. We know that we'll need another 2.1 million manufacturing workers by 2030 — now let's go train and skill them. If given the opportunity, Americans will step up and do the work.”
“Securing the future of semiconductor supply chains demands investment in infrastructure and spare capacity to safeguard U.S. manufacturing capabilities and mitigate critical shortages,” said Vimal Kapur, CEO of Honeywell. “With more than 60 years of experience working on the cutting-edge of chip manufacturing in Spokane, we are committed to continued innovation in a complex and challenging environment.”
On the tour Sen. Cantwell was joined by Kapur and Ken West, President and CEO of Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions. Honeywell is an integrated operating company serving a broad range of industries and geographies around the world.
Honeywell’s Spokane facility is the only U.S. manufacturer of Copper Manganese “sputtering targets,” which are used in the production of advanced chips used in consumer electronics, advanced computing, and aircraft. Sputtering targets enable U.S. manufacturers to build semiconductor chips vital to national security, smart grid technologies, and AI. The Spokane Valley facility has over 300 employees working in divisions from manufacturing to R&D.
Sen. Cantwell was the architect of the CHIPS & Science Act, one of the largest federal research and development investments in U.S. history. As Commerce Committee chair, she was instrumental in securing science R&D funding authorizations for the Act, which has led a resurgence of American manufacturing, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and spurred over $230 billion of investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
In October 2023, the Spokane American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center was designated as a U.S. Tech Hub by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) through the Regional Technology Hub program established by Sen. Cantwell’s CHIPS & Science Act. The designation recognizes the Inland Northwest as a hub for aerospace suppliers, private investment, new products, and companies in the U.S. aerospace supply chain.
Last April, Sen. Cantwell invited National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan to Spokane, where he saw firsthand how Spokane organizations have collaborated to drive the region’s current and future potential as a leader in technology innovation.
In August 2022, Sen. Cantwell toured technology company nLight in Camas, to see chip manufacturing workforce opportunities firsthand. She also visited the Altek Manufacturing facility in Liberty Lake, where she talked about how the CHIPS & Science Act boosts small towns’ ability to create the next great American innovations.
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