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Calumet Electronics honored the people, businesses and government partners who came together to help build the Center for Advanced Substrate Technology (CAST), the first dedicated panel-level organic substrate manufacturing facility in the United States. The $54.7 million public and private investment restores a capability the nation had ceded entirely to overseas suppliers and marks a turning point in the effort to rebuild America’s microelectronics ecosystem from the foundation up.
Every semiconductor requires a substrate, the foundational layer that connects the chip to the system it powers. Substrates are not a component. They are the enabling layer for advanced radar, electronic warfare, high-speed computing, artificial intelligence, and next-generation communications. Until today, no U.S. facility could produce advanced organic substrates at scale, leaving every domestic defense program dependent on offshored supply chains, therefore the Department of War asked Calumet Electronics to help solve it.
“CAST is proof that America can still build what matters most,” said Dr. Meredith LaBeau, Chief Technology Officer of Calumet Electronics. “But no one builds a first-of-its-kind facility alone. This building exists because equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, contractors, universities, federal agencies, and the State of Michigan all decided the same thing at the same time: This capability belongs on American soil. What we unveiled today is not just a factory, it is a beacon of hope for a growing American ecosystem, and it was built here, together.”
Built in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Calumet, Michigan, is an old copper mining town that gets up to 400 inches of snow a year. More than a century ago, the copper pulled from the ground in Calumet electrified America. Today, the same community is building the foundation of the nation’s most advanced electronics.
It is no accident that this facility rose in Calumet, because living in the community takes grit. The same determination it takes to thrive through a Keweenaw winter shows up on the production floor every day, in a workforce that does not flinch or quit at hard problems. A small town where people show up for each other is what made this facility possible.
Built Together
The stakes could not be higher. America once produced nearly forty percent of the world’s chips. By 2022, that share had fallen to ten percent, and to zero for the most advanced packages.
Calumet’s CAST building includes Class 1000 clean rooms that implement Semi-additive Processing (SAP) and embedded trace technologies on a single platform. This integrated approach lets Calumet deliver next-generation substrates with the speed and trusted reliability that today’s defense and commercial programs demand. CAST enables substrate production for the systems that define U.S. military and commercial technology leadership, from radar and electronic warfare to AI computing and 5G/6G communications.
“This is exactly the kind of investment we need to strengthen both our national and economic security, making critical semiconductor components right here in Michigan, “ saidU.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin. “But what makes it work isn’t just the equipment in the clean room, it’s the people who built it and will run it. This is Upper Peninsula grit turned into a national expertise, and it’s a model for what happens when workers, the community and the federal government all show up for the same goal. This $54 million investment is welcome news for Calumet and the UP.”
CAST was made possible by more than 25 partners across industry, government, and education. Calumet Electronics recognizes the equipment and process partners who pioneered U.S. organic substrate production alongside its team, including Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, KLA Corporation, SCHMID Group, MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions, Schmoll, ASMPT NEXX, Benmayor, Wise, Moyle Construction, Warner Norcross and DuPont.
The company also thanks the federal, state and regional partners whose support anchored the project including the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Department of War, InvestUP, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, whose Michigan Business Development Program grant helped anchor the investment.
“What happened in Calumet today matters to the entire electronics industry,” said John W. Mitchell, President and CEO, Global Electronics Association. “For years, industry and government talked about restoring advanced packaging and substrate capability in North America. Calumet Electronics talked the talk and started building. CAST shows that when manufacturers, policymakers, and the supply chain align around a shared goal, U.S. electronics manufacturing is not a memory. It’s a roadmap to follow.”
From the Classroom to the Cleanroom
CAST is as much a workforce story as a technology story. Calumet Electronics employs more than 290 people in a Michigan HUBZone community. Existing employees are being upskilled into advanced substrate manufacturing roles and partnerships with Michigan Technological University and SmartZone partners, the company is creating a direct path for the next generation of American microelectronics talent.
Calumet Electronics is proud to be America’s only certified HUBZone printed circuit board and organic substrate supplier and 100% American-owned, with zero offshoring.
