Microelectronics manufacturer Hendon Semiconductors (HSC) has been awarded a grant through the South Australian government’s $122 million Economic Recovery Fund.

The specialist electronic design and subassembly manufacturing company was awarded $605,561 through the fund to be matched by HSC, bringing the total investment to $1,227,522.

The funds will be used to upgrade facilities and equipment through the introduction of a sterilisation chamber, Class 10k Clean room, Chip on Board (COB) and the acquisition of a new spectrum analyser that will improve testing capability for high frequency RF systems.

This enhanced capability has applications across the defence sector, particularly the Electronic Warfare domain, where Hendon Semiconductors already delivers bespoke solutions.

The grant follows the award of a $690,000 defence Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grant in May, 2023.

That grant helped modernise Hendon’s Hybrid Integrated Circuit (HIC) and Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) production capabilities.

Established in 1959, HSC was the state’s first semiconductor manufacturer, and one of only a few in Australia, and has expanded its capabilities in growing industry sectors, including defence.

Executive General Manager Brenton Judge said: “We extended our product range to support defence applications, historically working closely with the Defence Science and Technology Group developing sovereign defence products and in later years with several primes.

“The ERF grant will extend our existing capabilities to give us the ability to do, or offer an alternative for, almost all of the processes within the semiconductor supply chain.”

Round 1 of the ERF saw $14.8 million allocated to manufacturing innovation projects, with HSC joining a list of companies including REDARC Defence and Space, AML3D and entX Limited.

Round 2 of the Economic Recovery Fund will open soon.

Further reading:
Defence backs Hendon to bolster semiconductor capabilities

Picture: defencesa.com