Chips plant delay not stopping micro processing companies

December 11, 2023

This building in the WestGate Tech Park is home to the early operations of NHanced Micro Processing.

ODON— The wait may be coming to an end soon for the delayed micro-processing chip plant at Crane. Ground was broken on the building 13 months ago with the idea that construction would begin soon on the plant that would bring is hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and hundreds of high paying jobs.

Officials say they anticipate dirt-work beginning very soon.

“Weather permitting, they are ready to move in and begin some of the site work to get ahead of the spring construction season. We expect to see movement at any time,” said CEO for Uplands Science and Technology Foundation Bryant Niehoff.

Niehoff says part of the holdup has been the success of micro processing project even before the building got started. It led to expansions on paper that resulted in changes for everything related to it.

“More partners have come to the table and that is a good thing. More information has become available from the CHIPS Act,” he said. “Westgate is becoming known as a potential micro-electronics hub and word has spread. That all together means a bigger project and with it more infrastructure.”

NHanced Micro Processing is one of the firms involved in Westgate One. Company CEO Bob Patti says expanding the project meant new negotiations, more requirements and different deals.

“Expanding the Westgate building is a painful process,” said Patti. “Each time we would go through that exercise the project would take a three to six month hit. We did that once earlier this year and saw how things were delayed.”

NHanced is growing rapidly and the need for space and to get going on the project for the Department of Defense pushed the company to go ahead and set up operations.

“We will quadruple in size this year as a company. It drives our need for space sooner than Westgate will be available. We now have more business than Westgate would be able to manage,” said Patti. “Having other sites allows us to expedite our growth schedule. As it stands the day that Westgate opens, without these other facilities, we would have to expand the building.”

One of those other sites is in an existing building in the current WestGate Park. The company has taken on 30,000 square feet where they have installed a fab line and clean space and are expanding even more.

“The issues with getting construction started has led us and others to doing some things on our own to move forward,” said Patti. “We are doing package assembly. It is part of advanced packaging. It takes material out of our current North Carolina fab and other fabs and we put it together in a package for the customer. It is part of the assembly and test we are planning to do in the Westgate building when it comes up.”

Currently NHanced has around 20 employees at its Westgate facility, including management, technicians and engineers. The company is looking to expand that part of the operation to 50 or 60 people. That facility will remain in operation even after Westgate One opens.

“The Westgate facility will be shared with Everspin and potentially other folks in the fab and then there is Reliable and others,” said Patti. “We have talked with some of those folks about joining us in the former General Dynamics building, while we wait for construction to be completed. Rather than take a total two year hit on the schedule this will give them space to go ahead with their plans at least.”

Reliable Micro Systems, which is another partner in the Westgate One project, has taken on some office space in the Martin County portion of the tech part.

While NHanced is expanding at Westgate the company has struck a deal to do work for commercial customers in a facility in Monroe County.

“It is totally separate from what we will be doing at Crane. It is for our commercial customer base. Our business continues to grow at a fast rate. We believe we can fill that facility and the Westgate Facility,” said Patti. “Westgate will be for our Department of Defense needs because it requires higher security and better controls.”

While the delay may be a problem the growth of the high tech business operations is something to celebrate in southern Indiana.

“I think it great to see their activity and that they are expanding their presence in the region beyond the initial plans,” said Neihoff. “The Westgate project is centered around the defense industry and the warfighter, but to see commercial applications take root in the region as well. That is phenomenal. That’s great for the region and great for the growth of that industry in our part of the state.”

Once construction on Westgate One begins officials say it will take at least two years to complete.