Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP represented the CHIPS Program Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce in connection with its $93 million direct funding award to Infinera under the CHIPS Incentive Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication Facilities.

The award will support the construction of a new semiconductor fabrication facility in San Jose, California, as well as a new advanced testing and packaging facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and is expected to increase Infinera’s current domestic manufacturing capacity by an estimated factor of 10. Infinera is a vertically integrated photonic semiconductor and telecommunications equipment manufacturer that has operated its U.S. fabrication and advanced test and packaging facilities for over 20 years. As the United States becomes more reliant on larger amounts of data driving increased energy usage, Infinera’s indium phosphide-based photonic integrated circuits (InP PICs) are increasingly important, using light to transfer information with greater energy efficiency. The PICs and optical modules are key components in optical network communications and enable the fast, reliable transfer of large amounts of data communications.

The Hunton finance team advising the CHIPS Program Office included partners Ben Cooper and Ryan Ketchum and associates Chloe Kwon, Gustavo Rodriguez-Villate, and Will Cox. Partner Tyler Maddry and counsel Steve Wood provided intellectual property advice, and partner J.C. Chenault and associate Matt Chriss provided real estate advice.