The US Department of Energy announced it has issued preliminary approval for nearly $710 million in loans to companies manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) components.
The lion's share of $544 million was awarded to South Korean company SK Siltron CSS for setting up high-power silicon carbide wafer manufacturing plant in Bay City, Michigan. These are designed for high-voltage use and are critical for use in EV drivetrains, including inverters, and electrical distribution systems like onboard chargers and DC-to-DC converters.
Jianwei Dong, Chief Executive of SK Siltron CSS, said: "This project is an important step towards ensuring a resilient and robust supply chain in the United States, and we are proud to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing."
Separately, American Battery Solutions received conditional approval for a $165.9 million loan. This will be used to expand the company's EV battery pack assembly operations in two locations – Springboro, Ohio and Lake Orion, Michigan.
Jigar Shah, director of the US DoE's loan program office, told reporters his office had received applications for $80 billion in financing from "very sophisticated players" in just the past two months.
In total, the US DoE has disbursed $34.43 billion as on December 31, 2023. The US government still has another $221.8 billion in funding capacity for clean energy projects.