Visit focused on supporting efforts to increase domestic output of technologies for automotive, medical and defense markets

SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT), the trusted technology realization partner, today announced it hosted U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Dean Phillips on June 1, 2021 for a facility tour and press conference to review challenges and opportunities for increasing domestic capabilities and capacities for microelectronics and related technologies. Klobuchar and Phillips joined SkyWater president and CEO Thomas Sonderman and other staff for a fab tour. During the visit, their discussion focused on identifying opportunities for easing supply chain restraints through various means that would have both short and long-term impact for supporting efforts to increase domestic output of technologies in key markets such as automotive, medical and defense.

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Rep. Dean Phillips, SkyWater president & CEO, Thomas Sonderman and Sen. Amy Klobuchar during Bloomington, Minnesota fab tour and press conference on June 1, 2021. The visit focused on identifying opportunities for easing supply chain restraints and supporting efforts to increase domestic output of technologies for automotive, medical and defense markets. (Photo: Business Wire)

The visit included a press conference where Klobuchar spoke about efforts to boost semiconductor production and other manufacturing technologies across the country. She and Phillips both discussed the trend in recent decades of microelectronics manufacturing moving offshore. Recent events including the global pandemic and supply constraints in the automotive industry have highlighted dynamics that have been developing for decades and represent vulnerabilities for markets and applications with more sensitivities to supply volatility or IP security.

During the press conference, Sen. Klobuchar said, “The production of semiconductors in the U.S. has been declining for decades and SkyWater is actually one of those success stories – a company that against all odds kept going, has expanded, and has 500 employees right here.”

In his speech, Rep. Phillips said, “For a state that has long been known around the world as an innovator, having incubated some of the most extraordinary companies in history, I am thrilled and honored to represent the district in which SkyWater is located. Days like this inspire me to work harder, more expeditiously, and more intently to make America the hub of innovation for which we were once known – and for which we will be known again, thanks to SkyWater.”

“We are grateful to have hosted Senator Klobuchar and Representative Phillips at our Minnesota facility. We appreciate their support of policies to strengthen America’s manufacturing industry and workforce as well as improve its competitiveness,” said Sonderman. “We were pleased to discuss the importance of feature-rich technologies that go into automotive and other markets and SkyWater’s plans to increase capacity and create jobs for Minnesotans.”

Government funding initiatives for re-shoring chip manufacturing have been at the forefront of President Biden’s administration and Congress. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which combines the $50 billion CHIPS Act, along with another bipartisan technology funding bill called the Endless Frontier Act (that includes $120 billion in funding for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy and NASA), is making its way through the U.S. Senate and is expected to be voted on next week. Following successful passage in the Senate, the bill will be debated and voted on in the U.S. House.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT) is a U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure-play semiconductor foundry and is a DOD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom technology development services, volume manufacturing, and advanced packaging capabilities. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations in Bloomington, Minnesota and Kissimmee, Florida provide unique processing capabilities to enable quality production and advanced packaging for mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Advanced Technology Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial and IoT. Please visit www.skywatertechnology.com/ for more information.

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