Vermont GaN Tech Hub consortium is one of six Tech Hubs to receive new funding
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today celebrated a new $23 million investment in the University of Vermont’s Tech Hub, which boosts research, advances manufacturing and expands cutting-edge careers and workforce training related to the development of Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors. The Vermont Gallium Nitride Tech Hub received this funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program.
Senator Welch released the following statement:
“Vermont’s new Tech Hub will benefit generations of researchers, tech innovators, and manufacturing leaders. The Biden-Harris Administration’s $23 million investment in the Green Mountain State’s technological and economic future is a testament to our innovative leadership, world-renowned research institutions, and our record of excellence in manufacturing,” said Senator Welch. “While serving on the Senate Commerce Committee, I advocated for the Administration to invest in the Vermont Gallium Nitride Tech Hub at the University of Vermont and am thrilled to see the Department of Commerce selected the Vermont GaN Tech Hub consortium for one of six competitive Tech Hub awards. I thank Secretary Raimondo for her commitment to expanding opportunities in zip codes large and small. With this new funding, we’ll enter 2025 celebrating jobs, innovation, and the advancement of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act’s mission of bolstering our nation’s supply chain and onshoring manufacturing, right here in Vermont.”
Vermont’s Tech Hub is one of 31 designated Tech Hubs in the nation. It will develop cutting-edge semiconductor technology applications to bolster commercial, as well as national security and defense priorities, while creating jobs and providing workforce training opportunities. The Tech Hubs program was created by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which Senator Welch helped pass as a member of the House of Representatives.
“To out-innovate and out-compete the rest of the world, we need to ensure we’re investing in the industries of the future that will drive American innovation, manufacturing, and workforce to succeed in a 21st century economy – that’s how America maintains its competitive edge,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The Tech Hubs Program and this latest allocation of funds are the result of bipartisan cooperation in Congress – I hope that good-faith work will endure so we can continue to invest in these centers of excellence across the nation, which in return, are providing good-paying jobs in industries of the future and helping to strengthen U.S. economic and national security.”
At an October 2023 Commerce Committee hearing, Senator Welch pressed Secretary Raimondo on the progress the Department had made to accelerate opportunities for rural states, such as Vermont, to build out their regional Tech Hub programs, and support semiconductor innovation with the help of the CHIPS and Science Act. Shortly after, the EDA selected the Vermont Gallium Nitride Tech Hub as one of only 31 Tech Hubs across America. In 2024, the Vermont Gallium Nitride Tech Hub received a $500,000 Consortium Accelerator Award from the Department of Commerce.
The CHIPS and Science Act included landmark investments to support domestic semiconductor and chip manufacturing research and development; bolster the STEM workforce; strengthen our 21st century security, tech defense, and wireless supply chains; and advance innovation in the advanced manufacturing industry.
Learn more about the Tech Hubs Program.
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