By: Matt Craig, Director of Crane Community Support for Radius Indiana

 

Our region is home to Naval Support Activity Crane, the third largest naval installation in the world, making defense a huge economic driver for Southern Indiana. We at Radius work with others outside the installation’s gates to assist with growing the region’s defense ecosystem and connecting Crane with community, regional, and state leadership. These collective efforts are made possible by the strong national leadership in various technologies and missions at Crane.  Radius is dedicated to the installation preservation as well as investment in new projects and opportunities that arise to support the base.

One of the newest and largest projects includes an $84 million advanced microchip development and manufacturing operation that will open in Daviess County. WestGate One, a combined effort of NHanced Semiconductors, Everspin Technologies, Trusted Semiconductor Solutions, and Reliable MicroSystems, will be located in the WestGate@Crane Technology Park just outside of the NSA Crane gate near Odon.

This campus is the kind of development that local government and economic development leaders devote their careers to securing. It is expected to add 549 high-paying jobs between 2024 and 2028. The new, specialized jobs will be critical in advancing American-made microelectronics verification, validation, and production of critical microelectronics components in the U.S. 

Based on a project assessment analysis of WestGate One from Radius Indiana, NHanced is expected to generate over $3 million in local income tax revenue over 10 years. In addition to the jobs created directly at the semiconductor campus, there will be additional supplier and consumer-business jobs created by the presence of the NHanced employment, increasing the total employment impact to 858 total local jobs created.

The growth expected at this campus has validated the creation of a new organization to lead the physical development of WestGate as outlined in its 2021 Master Plan. The Uplands Science and Technology Foundation (USTF), a non-profit research foundation dedicated to enhancing the vitality of the tech park, is a new organization that will work to grow the park’s capabilities in emerging technology areas such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.

The Crane Regional Defense Group hosted USTF for its Key Leader Series event February 3 at WestGate, bringing together public and private sectors to learn more about the tech park’s mission and goals. The partnership between organizations such as Radius, CRDG, USTF and many others is vital in the continued success of developments like the microelectronics project above. 

Radius Indiana is excited about the growth at WestGate, specifically in the microelectronics and semiconductor space, and continues to curate other opportunities for investment.