Commerce Agrees to Fund Up to $225 Million for Bosch Silicon‑Carbide Chip Plant in Roseville

The U.S. Department of Commerce and Robert Bosch Semiconductor LLC have signed a direct funding agreement for up to $225 million to support Bosch’s silicon-carbide semiconductor project in Roseville, California, moving the effort beyond the preliminary stage and marking a concrete step in expanding U.S. production of a key power chip used in electrification.

The agreement, announced Monday by Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office and Bosch, advances a project aimed at increasing domestic capacity for silicon-carbide semiconductors, a wide-bandgap material used in high-voltage, high-efficiency power electronics for electric vehicles, charging equipment, grid systems and industrial applications. Bosch said sample production has already begun at Roseville and that it intends to start U.S. commercial production in 2026.

Bosch said it is investing up to $2 billion to transform the Roseville plant, a former TSI Semiconductors facility that Bosch acquired on Aug. 31, 2023. The site is being converted to produce silicon-carbide chips on 200-millimeter wafers, a manufacturing format that can help increase output and improve economics for power semiconductors.

The company said the Roseville site currently employs more than 300 people. Commerce and National Institute of Standards and Technology project materials say the expansion was expected to create up to about 1,000 construction jobs and up to about 700 manufacturing, engineering and research-and-development jobs. Bosch also said the project received a $25 million California Competes tax credit.

Commerce/NIST materials say the Roseville expansion, if fully realized, could comprise more than 40% of U.S.-based silicon-carbide device manufacturing capacity. That estimate underscores the potential significance of the project in a segment of the semiconductor industry that is increasingly important to automakers, utilities and industrial equipment makers seeking more efficient power systems.

The signed agreement is a step beyond the nonbinding preliminary memorandum of terms that Bosch and the Commerce Department announced on Dec. 13, 2024. Under the CHIPS and Science Act, the federal government created an incentive program to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and the Bosch project is one example of that policy being used to build U.S. capacity in a strategic part of the chip supply chain. As with other CHIPS awards, the incentive is for up to $225 million and is generally tied to project milestones rather than paid all at once.

Bill Frauenhofer, executive director for semiconductor innovation and investment at the Department of Commerce, said in the agency’s release: “Silicon carbide semiconductors are the enabling technology behind electrification in multiple critical industries including energy, automotive, and defense. The CHIPS Program incentive supports Bosch's effort to onshore silicon carbide technology that will bolster supply chain resiliency for our country.”