The re-emergence of Lehigh Valley’s technology sector attracted members of two key Pennsylvania Senate committees who visited Infinera Corp.’s semiconductor production facility and heard from industry, education, and workforce leaders on how the Commonwealth can foster business growth and new jobs in this strategic industry.
Infinera CEO David Heard traveled from the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley to lead the senators on a tour of Infinera’s optical semiconductor testing and packaging center in Upper Macungie Township on Feb. 8. They observed workers packaging and testing chips using state-of-the-art equipment. 
“Since our founding, we chose to keep our optical compound semiconductor operations in the United States, which includes our advanced semiconductor test and packaging center in Pennsylvania. We have a great affinity for this region and really want to continue to do business here. But we need a business climate that can make that happen,” Heard told the senators.
Infinera, which employs about 300 people in the Lehigh Valley, is one of the few semiconductor companies that manufactures chips in the United States. It hosted members of the Senate Communications & Technology, and Community, Economic & Recreational Development committees.
The Lehigh Valley is home to about 30 technology companies that collectively employ about 1,500 people.
“It’s important to grow the technology and manufacturing sectors. We want this industry in Pennsylvania. We want to break down barriers,” said Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, Chair of the Senate Communications & Technology Committee.
Sen. Pennycuick, whose district in Montgomery and Berks counties is just to the south and west of the Lehigh Valley, was joined by Senators Chris Gebhard of Lebanon County, Chair of the Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee; Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County, whose district includes the Infinera plant; Jimmy Dillon and Sharif Street of Philadelphia; and Patrick Stefano from western Pennsylvania; along with about a dozen Senate staff members.
Sen. Pennycuick noted that re-establishing semiconductor production in the United States is a national issue that will require public-private partnerships. She said state initiatives to help this sector grow will be an economic investment in Pennsylvania’s future.
Semiconductor manufacturing started in the Lehigh Valley in the 1950s when Bell Labs, which invented transistors in the years following World War II, assigned production of this world-changing technology to Western Electric’s Allentown Works. Indeed, this was the inspiration for Infinera’s nearly 20-year presence in the Lehigh Valley today.
“We are not starting from ground zero in the Lehigh Valley. The talent from the legacy of Bell Labs, Western Electric, and AT&T remains,” said Don Cunningham, President & CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC).
He said with federal and state government attention and support, the Lehigh Valley is well-positioned to lead a return to U.S. prominence in chip design, development, and manufacturing.
That issue was the focus of two roundtable conversations that followed the Infinera plant tour.
The first roundtable included representatives from several semiconductor companies with operations in the Lehigh Valley. In addition to Infinera, the companies included Intel, Broadcom, iDEAL Semiconductor, and Cybel, along with the Murray Hill Group and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, two organizations – one private and one public – that invest in early-stage, innovative technology companies.
The second roundtable featured leaders from secondary and higher education, workforce development, and labor, including Lehigh University, Lehigh Carbon Community College, Northampton Community College, Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Workforce Board Lehigh Valley, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 375.
In both roundtable sessions, the senators asked panelists to share what measures Pennsylvania could implement to support continued growth of the semiconductor industry across the Commonwealth.
For the past year, LVEDC has been engaged with a coalition of industry, education, workforce, and economic development partners on issues important to the semiconductor industry in the Lehigh Valley. The federal government has made this sector a priority through the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized $280 billion to boost semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States.
(Photo caption: From left to right, Infinera CEO David Heard, Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, Sen. Jimmy Dillon, Sen. Chris Gebhard, Sen. Patrick Stefano, Sen. Jarrett Coleman, Infinera Vice President of Manufacturing and Pennsylvania Site Lead Darrell Engel, Sen. Sharif Street, and Don Pavinski, Vice President Research & Development, Optical Modules Group, at Infinera. Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Senate).