NHanced Semiconductors has canceled its plan to bring a manufacturing and packaging facility to Bloomington’s west side.
The company broke the news Tuesday at a meeting of the Monroe County Council, which approved a tax abatement last December for NHanced so it could bring operations to 301 N. Curry Pike.
NHanced President Bob Patti said the company could not secure funding from the CHIPS Act, and market trends are not working favorably.
“The private funding at this point is very concerned that the huge investment made worldwide in semiconductors may result in a glut in the market, and that has turned a lot of the private investment,” Patti said.
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“Almost half a million dollars now has been put forward in government funding worldwide, and that will double to triple the capacity of semiconductors over the next three years,” he added. “Anyone would say that is a far greater capacity than the demand would sustain — so as a small company, we are seeing a pullback in people’s desire to venture into the market at this point.”
Patti said the plan cannot happen for these reasons, even though NHanced believes the site — on which Cook Medical owns vacant property — is still viable.
The 100 percent, 10-year tax abatement would have been on personal property tax. It would have saved NHanced about $8.8 million.
NHanced had said its planned investment of $152 million could have brought about 250 new jobs to the area by 2029, each paying more than $100,000 on average.
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Bloomington Economic Development Corporation President Jen Pearl spoke alongside Patti at the council meeting. She said the abatement had not been triggered yet.
“Whenever we do a partnership in partnership with government and a company, it is contingent on performance,” Pearl said. “When both parties are able to fulfill what they had hoped to do, that's when it triggers the abatement; so, it’s not like a check was written, or anything like that had happened.”
NHanced also opened a facility in Odon in January. Patti says those plans have not changed and expects production to start in early 2025.
