August 25, 2006 – SemiSouth Laboratories, Starkville, MI, a privately held company formed in 2000 to commercialize silicon carbide (SiC) electronic materials and device technologies developed at Mississippi State U., has officially opened a new multimillion-dollar silicon carbide manufacturing facility, and completed “a large portion” of equipment installation.

The company teamed up with II-VI Inc., Saxonburg, Pa., which also is opening a SiC wafer processing cleanroom inside the facility. Jeff Casady, president and CEO of SemiSouth, stated that the new facility “marks the debut of the first major semiconductor (microchip) manufacturing facility in the state.”

SemiSouth provides discrete power devices, simple ICs, and thin-film SiC epitaxy wafers to commercial and government entities, as an alternative to silicon, GaAs, and other materials for power-based electronic applications.