South Australian-based Hendon Semiconductors (HSC) is the latest company to be awarded a grant through the State Government’s $122 million Economic Recovery Fund.

The specialist electronic design and manufacturing company was recently awarded $605,561 through the fund, that will 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 leading solutions.

Established in 1959, HSC was the state’s first semiconductor manufacturer (and one of only a few in Australia) responsible for the design, test and manufacture of microelectronic products.

Over the years, the company has expanded its capabilities to meet the demands of Australia’s growing industry sectors, including defence.

“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,” said Executive General Manager Brenton Judge.

Mr Judge added that the ERF grant would assist HSC in strengthening its local capability.

“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,” he said.

Round 1 of the ERF saw $14.8 million allocated to Manufacturing Innovation projects, with HSC joining a prominent list of companies including REDARC Defence and Space, AML3D, entX Limited spearheading ERF-backed defence projects in the state.

Round 2 of the Economic Recovery Fund will open soon. Learn more