BURLINGTON – Coffey County Commissioners will meet June 2nd with the primary driver of a proposed BETO Junction-area semiconductor chip plant whose application for federal funding was denied earlier this month, threatening the future of the development and dimming what was a brightening landscape for technological economic development in Eastern Kansas.
County leaders got word May 19th that a federal technology grant application for the proposed TEM (Trusted Electronic Materials) semiconductor chip plant near BETO (the intersection of U.S. 75 and I-35, locally known as Burlington-Emporia-Topeka-Ottawa) had been denied by the U.S. Department of Commerce. An article in the Coffey County Republican said no formal explanation for the denial was given. Media reports from other areas of the country have also noted application denials for other similar technology projects, partially due to the volume of applications for the grants after the funding announcement. Commissioners hoped a meeting with Dr. Karl Wyatt, the point man for TEM, might shed some light on options for the project next week.
The CHIPS Act passed by Congress in 2022 made an outlay of $52 billion for semiconductor incentives, including $32 billion in grants and $5.5 billion in loans as well as tax credits for developers. Semiconductor chips are viewed as the technological linchpin to all digital technology, and U.S. manufacturers are heavily dependent on foreign sources, particularly China, for those chips.
News of the $1.9 billion Coffey County plant, as well as an electric battery facility to be constructed at DeSoto, had buoyed development hopes in the region particularly for local housing development, as a more affordable non-metro option for workers who would be hired at those plants.
Coffey County Commissioner Mark Petterson told the Kansas Informer this week while the TEM project had hit a snag, prospects for semiconductor development in Coffey County at its proposed new industrial park facility weren’t done.
“The proposed industrial park initially was to be home to Kansas Semiconductor Manufacturing Consortium (KSMC), which is made up of – if I remember right – at least five independent companies,” Petterson said. “At least one of those companies still has a CHIPS grant application that is still “alive.” We will know more next week, after Dr. Wyatt’s visit.”
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
