Wolfspeed celebrated a topping-out ceremony with this final steel beam going up in the air in place at the factory site in Chatham County on Tuesday. The very first steel went in here nine months ago.

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“Toyota down the road is making a multi-billion-dollar investment,” said Sen. Thom Tillis. “VinFast. Wolfspeed. There are tens of billions of dollars in bets being placed on North Carolina’s economy and our ability to produce the workforce.”

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It will be more than 80% automated with autonomous vehicles and robots moving materials and products. The JP is where Wolfspeed will make the silicon carbide wafers that go into semiconductor chips.

T-SLOT, a family of modular milling cutters SD-SP…, was originally developed for milling relatively narrow slots and grooves.

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Both types of milling cutters (those with indexable inserts and those with replaceable heads) meet the requirements of standard DIN 3972, basic profile II.

Those chips will end up powering electric vehicles. The company already has deals with Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and General Motors.

Iscar Tools Inc. has released replaceable solid-carbide heads for its T-GEAR SD D32-M…-SP15 family, which are mounted in standard T-SLOT SD-SP15 cylindrical shanks. This transforms the latter into a 32-mm-dia. gear milling cutter.

More than 2,000 workers will be there daily building the John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide or the JP as they’re calling it. Wolfspeed said will be the largest silicon carbide factory in the world.

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Inside the factory, the company is already growing silicon carbide crystals under high security. There are massive hallways that look like highways.

Semiconductor chip-maker Wolfspeed is moving at lightning speed to get this massive new factory in Chatham County up and running.

“We’re driving, pushing that envelope in terms of our silicone carbide technology to make sure you get the most miles per charge for all these electric vehicles,” said Wolfspeed Director of Facilities Shawn Lilly.

The profile of the cutters’ teeth and the accurate and reliable connection between the shank and the head define its range of use: milling involute gears featuring a 1- to 2-mm module.

A cutter comprises a shank and an interchangeable solid-carbide head, mounted on the shank with the use of a specially designed SP-connection. The connection ensures a very durable assembly that withstands considerable cutting forces during slot milling, even in cases when a tool works with high overhang. The heads of the same diameter vary in their width. The cutting geometry of the heads is intended for efficient slot milling of different engineering materials.

Cameras weren’t allowed inside this high-security facility, but WRAL News got to go on a tour. He got a first-hand look at how the site will provide the chips that power everything from electric vehicles to artificial intelligence.

“It’s exciting with the great planning we’ve done and the leadership we have, so we’re ready for this moment,” said Chatham County Economic Development Director Michael Smith. “It’s been years in the making.”