The quiet township making the stuff computer chips are made of

Here is a fact that surprises people: a key material for leading-edge computer chips is made among the farm fields of Thomas Township. Hemlock Semiconductor has operated here since 1961.

The U.S. Commerce Department describes Hemlock as the only U.S.-owned manufacturer of hyper-pure polysilicon and one of five companies in the world that can make it pure enough for the leading-edge semiconductor market. Polysilicon is the material that gives chips their semiconductor properties. That is narrower than calling the plant America’s largest, but it tells you more about why the operation matters.

In January 2025, Commerce awarded the company up to $325 million in CHIPS Act funding for a new manufacturing facility at the Hemlock campus. The agency expects the project to create about 180 manufacturing jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs over time. The money is tied to project milestones, so “up to” matters. For Thomas Township, the big story is simple: a quiet local campus sits near the beginning of a global technology supply chain.