2006 Code of Virginia § 59.1-284.14 - Semiconductor Memory or Logic Wafer Manufacturing Performance Grant Program; eligible citie...

59.1-284.14. Semiconductor Memory or Logic Wafer Manufacturing PerformanceGrant Program; eligible cities.

A. As used in this section:

"Cumulative investment" means the total investment in buildings andequipment made by a qualified manufacturer in an eligible city since thebeginning of construction of a wafer manufacturing facility.

"Eligible city" means any Virginia city having a population of no less than27,500 and no more than 28,500 as determined by the 1990 United States Census.

"Manufactures wafers" means manufacturing wafers in an eligible city, whichmay include on-site processing that increases the value of wafers bytransforming raw wafers into semiconductor memory or logic wafers, and mayinclude further processing of such wafers.

"Qualified manufacturer" means any manufacturer of semiconductor productswho (i) has made a cumulative investment of at least one billion dollarslocated in an eligible city and (ii) manufactures wafers in that eligiblecity.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce and Trade or his designee.

"Wafer" means a semiconductor memory or logic wafer. A wafer containingmixed memory and logic circuits shall be considered a logic wafer.

B. Beginning five years after the commencement of the manufacture of wafersin an eligible city, any qualified manufacturer shall be entitled to receivean annual semiconductor memory or logic wafer manufacturing performance grantin the amount of $100 per memory wafer and $250 per logic wafer based uponits manufacture of wafers in that city and sale of those wafers. A qualifiedmanufacturer shall be entitled to receive annual grants under this sectionfor a period of five years following the date its initial application for agrant is filed under subsection E, except as provided in subsection C. Thegrants under this section (i) shall be paid, as provided in subsections F andG, from a fund entitled the Semiconductor Memory or Logic Wafer ManufacturingPerformance Grant Fund subject to appropriations by the General Assembly and(ii) shall not exceed $38,400,000 in the aggregate; however, the cumulativevalue of grants to which qualified manufacturers shall be entitled shall bebased upon the cumulative investment made by qualified manufacturers by thedates specified below:

Cumulative

Cumulative Eligible Investment Value of

Investment Period Eligible Grant Period Grants

$1 billion by December 31, January 1, 2003, $18,600,000

1998 through December

31, 2007

$2.5 billion by December 31, January 1, 2007, $30,400,000

2002 through December

31, 2011

$4 billion by December 31, January 1, 2010, $38,400,000

2005 through December

31, 2014

C. Any qualified manufacturer who makes (i) a cumulative investment of atleast $1 billion, but less than $2.5 billion, shall be entitled to receive anannual grant payment of up to $3,720,000, but the cumulative total of suchgrants shall not exceed $18.6 million; (ii) a cumulative investment of atleast $2.5 billion, but less than $4 billion, shall be entitled to receive anannual grant payment of up to $6,080,000, but the cumulative total of suchgrants shall not exceed $30.4 million; or (iii) a cumulative investment of $4billion or more shall be entitled to receive an annual grant payment of up to$7,680,000, but the cumulative total of such grants shall not exceed $38.4million. If any qualified manufacturer, after having made the initial $1billion cumulative investment, achieves a higher cumulative investment levelas shown in the schedule in subsection B earlier than the dates specified inthat subsection, that qualified manufacturer shall immediately becomeeligible to receive the increased performance grant amount, if the initialfive-year period from the beginning of manufacture of wafers has expired. Inaddition, after having made any higher investment level above the initial $1billion, the qualified manufacturer shall have through the last date shown inthe eligible grant period to earn the full amount of the correspondingcumulative value of the performance grant. Under no circumstances shall anyqualified manufacturer be eligible to receive more than $38.4 million ingrants during the duration of the program established by this section.

D. If the value of applications for grants under this section for wafersmanufactured and sold exceeds one-fifth of the cumulative value in theschedule listed in subsection B for the calendar year for which grants aresought corresponding to the cumulative investments made by the applicants,each qualified manufacturer's grant for that year shall equal the amount ofthe grant to which the qualified manufacturer would be entitled for such yearabsent the provisions of this subsection times a fraction. The numerator ofthat fraction shall equal one-fifth of the cumulative value in the schedulelisted in subsection B for the calendar year for which grants are soughtcorresponding to the cumulative investments made by the applicants, and thedenominator shall equal the aggregate dollar amount of grants to which allqualified manufacturers would be entitled absent this subsection.

E. Any qualified manufacturer entitled to receive a grant under this sectionshall apply for the grant and provide evidence, satisfactory to theSecretary, of the number of wafers manufactured by it in an eligible city,the number of wafers which were sold during such calendar year, and theamount of cumulative investment made by the qualified manufacturer. Theapplication and the evidence shall be filed with the Secretary in person orby mail no later than March 31, or such later date determined by theSecretary in his sole discretion, each year of the program following the yearin which the wafers were sold. Failure to meet the application filingdeadline shall render the qualified manufacturer ineligible to receive agrant for the wafers it manufactured and sold. For filings by mail, thepostmark cancellation shall govern the date of the filing determination.

F. Within ninety days after the filing deadline established in subsection E,the Secretary shall certify to (i) the Comptroller and (ii) each qualifiedmanufacturer the amount of the grant to which each qualified manufacturer isentitled under this section. Payment of such grant to any qualifiedmanufacturer shall be made by check issued by the Treasurer of theCommonwealth of Virginia on warrant of the Comptroller within sixty daysafter the Secretary's certification.

G. As a condition of receipt of a grant, all qualified manufacturers shallmake available to the Secretary for inspection upon his request all relevantand applicable documents to determine whether the manufacture and sale of thewafers meets the requirements for the receipt of grants as set forth in thissection and subject to a memorandum of understanding between a qualifiedmanufacturer and the Commonwealth. The Comptroller shall not draw anywarrants to issue checks for this program without a specific legislativeappropriation as specified in conditions and restrictions on expenditures inthe appropriation act. All such documents appropriately identified by thequalified manufacturer shall be considered confidential and proprietary.

(1996, cc. 645, 651; 2001, c. 863.)