Overview
- Coherent held a groundbreaking in Sherman, Texas on June 16 to expand its plant and said the project will double manufacturing floor space and roughly quadruple 6‑inch indium phosphide wafer output.
- The company announced a $50 million CHIPS Act grant at the ceremony and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang attended, confirming the firms’ active multiyear partnership that includes a previously announced $2 billion NVIDIA commitment.
- Industry reporting says Coherent is investing about $650 million in the expansion and gave differing job estimates, with the company citing more than 550 direct roles and outside reports saying the project could create roughly 1,000 new jobs.
- Indium phosphide wafers power lasers and transceivers for pluggable and co‑packaged optics, and moving to 6‑inch wafers raises usable area and lowers unit costs to meet the connectivity needs of larger, more energy‑efficient AI clusters.
- Analysts and coverage note technical and execution risks that could slow volume delivery, including maintaining yield on complex compound‑semiconductor processes and challenges in optical‑to‑silicon alignment and packaging.