Draper held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new microelectronics building in Lowell, Massachusetts, the company said. The building will house Draper's Integrated Microelectronics Production & Advanced Chip Technology Center, which the company refers to as the IMPACT Center.
The 111,000 square foot building is part of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor, or LINC, and will include facilities for microelectronic design, production and packaging. Draper said the center will create more than 100 jobs, including technicians, engineers with advanced degrees and business executives. State and local funding, in partnership with the city of Lowell, is supporting construction, which the company said is intended to strengthen the defense ecosystem in Massachusetts.
Jerry M. Wohletz, Draper's president and chief executive, said microelectronics feature in nearly every system used to protect the country's interests, and that a domestic supply chain free of foreign influence and disruption is needed to keep those systems trustworthy. He said the center would expand the company's onshore capacity and create jobs for Lowell residents and UMass Lowell graduates.
UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen said the groundbreaking reflects LINC's continued growth and the university's relationship with Draper, and that placing industry and academia close together allows researchers to exchange ideas, students to gain career-connected experience and companies to draw on the university's resources and expertise. Lowell Mayor Erik Gitschier said the project brings skilled jobs and opportunities for residents and strengthens the partnership between the city, UMass Lowell and the Commonwealth.
Completion is expected in 2029. Draper said the center will offer manufacturing services spanning design to field-ready systems and will support high-mix, low-volume production in areas including microelectronics and advanced precision navigation and timing systems. Colleen Anderson, an Electronic Systems program director at Draper, said only 3 percent of chip packaging is done in the United States today and that the center would help fill that gap with a domestic source for some of the most sophisticated systems the country produces. Wexford Science & Technology is the real estate developer alongside GMH Communities and First Atlantic, with Shawmut Design and Construction and Burns & McDonnell supporting the development team.
