Nashua, New Hampshire is known for its historic charm, vibrant downtown, and scenic surroundings. As the Granite State’s second-largest city, Nashua offers a mix of cultural attractions, outdoor recreational activities, and a strong sense of community. People who work in Nashua enjoy the city’s numerous parks, museums, shopping areas and dining options. BAE Systems plays a major role in the city’s economy, employing approximately 3,700 people across two major campuses. The company regularly recruits for jobs in technology and manufacturing. Many of those positions are in the company’s Microelectronics Center (MEC), which is marking a major milestone this year.
Human Capital
The MEC is a 110,000-square-foot, Department of Defense (DoD)- accredited, semiconductor chip fabrication and foundry facility specializing in the design and manufacture of advanced microelectronics for defense and aerospace applications. It employs more than 200 people, with 85 working within the 20,000 square-foot foundry.
The facility is known for its cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions. With a team of highly skilled engineers and technicians, the center is a domestic defense-centric six-inch Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) wafer foundry.
This year, the MEC will be marking a significant milestone – its 40th anniversary. The building located on the South Nashua campus opened in 1984, and at the time was believed to be one of the most advanced, high-tech labs in the northeast. The 64,500-square-foot, single-story building initially housed 150 employees tasked with the design, development, and fabrication of a wide variety of integrated circuits and semiconductors for the company’s advanced electronic systems products.
BAE Systems’ legacy company Sanders Associates spent nearly $26 million to construct the MEC, which distinguished it as the largest capital expenditure at that time. As the facility grew and expanded its advanced manufacturing capabilities it hit another key milestone in 2008, when it was accredited by the Defense Microelectronics Agency (DMEA) as a trusted supplier of microelectronics for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other government customers.
It’s a collaboration that continues to this day.
Last December, The Department of Commerce announced BAE Systems was selected to receive the nation’s first grant under the CHIPS and Science ACT to increase domestic chip production. The $35 million in federal funding will be used to help modernize the MEC.
“We are proud that the DoD has invested in our company to be a continued, trusted source of advanced microelectronics to help maintain a technological advantage over our adversaries,” said Monica Gilbert, the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit & Foundry Capability Group director. “The grant also helps us create economic opportunity for the people of Nashua and its surrounding communities.”
Both the state of New Hampshire and the City of Nashua will offer workforce incentives through Nashua Community College (NCC). Tuition assistance will be provided to students in NCC’s Microelectronics Boot Camp, which BAE Systems co-founded in 2016. The camp is a 10-week program that prepares students for work in advanced manufacturing.
Those MEC technicians – along with the facility’s team of engineers – support the entire defense industrial base, not just the systems created by BAE Systems. The team is constantly looking to collaborate further with industry and academia. In addition to serving greater national defense needs, MEC employees deliver microelectronics components to an increasing number of civilian, space, test and measurement and other specialty non-defense markets.
External Focus
Closer to home, employees are encouraged to give back to the community by actively supporting nonprofits within Nashua. The company works with:
- New Hampshire Food Bank – Employees made in-person or virtual donations to the annual food drive.
- Humane Society for Greater Nashua – A Valentine’s Day sale of Teddy Bears, boxes of chocolate and dog treats raised money for the group.
- Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter – Members of the Young Professionals Employee Resource Group volunteered to help clean the shelter and organized the Program Room.
“Volunteering with nonprofits is a great way for employees to make an impact,” said Gilbert. “It shows dedication and commitment to helping others in need.”
Additionally, BAE Systems employees regularly participate in BAE Systems’ ongoing partnership with FIRST™ Robotics. Volunteers donate their time supporting robotics competitions around New Hampshire to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields.
Achieving Operational Excellence
Microelectronics are at the heart of the highly sophisticated sensing and weapons systems that the U.S. and our allies depend on, and an increasing number of civilian, space, test, and measurement systems.
“Our planned modernization of the facility will ultimately reduce supply chain issues, increase capacity, and reduce production time,” said Gilbert.
This increased efficiency would allow the company to meet increasing demand for DoD technology as well as provide critical microelectronics to non-defense industries including satellite communications, and test and measurement equipment markets. Once complete, the facility will increase wafer production by 300 percent, benefiting the U.S. defense industrial base.
“Modernizing our Microelectronics Center helps BAE Systems’ continued development and manufacturing of cutting-edge technology to serve our customers’ missions,” said Gilbert.
Technology Disruption
The MEC produces semiconductor chips that the DoD relies on for electronic warfare (EW) systems. These provide our warfighters with unsurpassed situational awareness and survivability to support their missions and ensure aircrews return home safely from the most challenging environments.
Our EW systems operate on 80% of U.S. military fixed-wing aircraft and over 95% of U.S. Army rotary-wing aircraft and those of U.S. allies,, including critical platforms such as the F-35, F-15, F-16, F-22, EC-130H, and U-2.
The MEC is one of the only domestic defense-centric six-inch Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) wafer foundries. The highly reliable microelectronics produced at the MEC deliver discriminating performance for a wide range of applications from below 1 GHz to more than 100 GHz—far beyond what is available in commercial markets.
“Since its inception 40 years ago, MEC employees have worked to provide semiconductor capabilities that enable systems that operate on air, land, maritime, cyber and space,” said Gilbert. “It’s not a mission we take lightly.
Fun Facts
- Nashua was twice named “Best Place to Live in America” by Money Magazine.
- New Hampshire is nicknamed the Granite State because of its extensive granite formations and quarries.
- Nashua was originally part of Massachusetts until a boundary settlement in 1741 placed it in New Hampshire.
- A few episodes of the television show The Office were set in a fictional Nashua branch of Dunder Mifflin.
By Shelley Walcott, Communications