Palm Bay, FL -- Rogue Valley Microdevices has completed a multimillion-dollar equipment acquisition that brings 300-millimeter wafer manufacturing capability to its 50,000-square-foot Palm Bay microfabrication facility. The deal, coordinated through semiconductor equipment broker Bridge Tronic Global, makes RVM the first pure-play MEMS foundry in the United States capable of fabricating on both 200mm and 300mm wafers.
The company expects to begin accepting orders for dielectric and conductive films in April, with full MEMS device orders starting in the third quarter of 2026.
That timeline matters for the Space Coast. Within a 40-mile radius of RVM’s facility on Commerce Park Drive sit the headquarters and production lines of L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, Collins Aerospace, Leonardo DRS, and a growing constellation of defense contractors who consume MEMS devices in everything from missile guidance systems to satellite attitude control.
The Last Mile Problem
MEMS, short for microelectromechanical systems, are tiny sensors and actuators fabricated on silicon chips using the same processes that build computer processors. In defense applications, they are the critical component inside inertial measurement units, the navigation brains that guide weapons, stabilize aircraft, and orient satellites.
Collins Aerospace, with offices in Melbourne, builds MEMS-based inertial measurement units for guided rockets and glide bombs. Northrop Grumman developed a MEMS navigation sensor under a DARPA contract specifically designed for GPS-denied combat environments. Leonardo DRS fabricates infrared detection systems using MEMS processes at its Palm Bay facility. L3Harris builds satellite systems and electronic warfare platforms that rely on MEMS-based sensors.
Every one of these companies faces the same supply chain bottleneck. The global MEMS foundry market is dominated by foreign fabs. Silex Microsystems in Sweden is the world’s largest pure-play MEMS foundry. STMicroelectronics operates in Europe. TSMC offers MEMS as a specialty line in Taiwan. For defense programs governed by International Traffic in Arms Regulations, sending sensitive design files and wafers overseas means navigating export licensing requirements that add months to development timelines.
The domestic alternatives have been thin. Honeywell runs a MEMS fab but keeps it captive for its own products. Atomica in Santa Barbara operates at the older 150mm wafer size. The GAO documented this exposure directly in a 2025 report on defense industrial base risks, finding that missile systems and precision sensors remain among the most vulnerable categories to foreign semiconductor dependency.
20 Minutes from L3Harris
RVM’s Palm Bay facility sits roughly 20 minutes from L3Harris headquarters in Melbourne. That proximity is not incidental.
Defense MEMS development is an iterative process. Engineers design a sensor, fabricate prototype wafers, test them, revise the design, and repeat. When the foundry is in Sweden or Taiwan, each cycle takes months. When it is on Commerce Park Drive, engineering teams can walk into the fab during process development. Classified design data stays domestic without export licensing. Supply disruptions from geopolitical conflict or natural disaster do not apply.
The 300mm capability adds another dimension. The global logic chip industry migrated to 300mm wafers years ago. Defense customers designing MEMS devices that integrate with standard CMOS electronics need a foundry that handles that wafer size. Until now, post-CMOS MEMS processing at 300mm required sending wafers out of the country. RVM closes that gap.
“Our partnership with Bridge Tronic Global has accelerated our ability to offer customers a path to seamless CMOS/MEMS technology integration on 300mm wafers,” said Jessica Gomez, CEO and founder of Rogue Valley Microdevices. “As we build out our fab, we’re taking a major step toward enabling the next generation of innovation in the U.S.”
The Investment Trail
This is the third major milestone for RVM’s Palm Bay operation. The company originally announced a $25 million capital investment when it selected Palm Bay in 2023, a figure that has since grown to over $70 million. In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced preliminary terms for a $6.7 million CHIPS Act award to support the buildout, making Gomez the first woman and first minority business owner to receive CHIPS Act direct manufacturing funding.
The equipment deal with Bridge Tronic Global represents the practical application of that investment. Boyd Grubbs, CEO of Bridge Tronic Global, said the project shows how industry collaboration advances U.S. manufacturing. Bridge Tronic specializes in sourcing and refurbishing semiconductor equipment, a cost-efficient path for equipping a new fab without paying new-tool prices.
RVM also signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2025 with Canada’s MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre to offer fast-track MEMS platform development, specifically targeting 300mm technology.
What It Means for Palm Bay
The defense supply chain story is the strategic headline, but the local impact is more immediate. RVM’s CHIPS Act application projected that the Palm Bay facility would nearly triple the company’s manufacturing capacity. That means production jobs in microfabrication, a sector where starting wages typically exceed $50,000 with no four-year degree requirement.
Palm Bay has spent decades as a bedroom community for Space Coast employers. Companies like L3Harris and Northrop Grumman employ thousands of Brevard County residents, but their supply chains have historically stretched to Oregon, California, and overseas. RVM’s facility begins to change that equation. The parts that go into the weapons and satellites built on the Space Coast can now be fabricated on the Space Coast.
L3Harris sits on the advisory board of the University of Florida’s Florida Semiconductor Institute, which hosted its 2025 summit under the theme “Looking Skyward in Aerospace and Defense.” The state has committed over $400 million since 2022 to semiconductor workforce programs. The policy infrastructure is being built alongside the physical one.
Whether RVM’s Palm Bay foundry becomes a formal supplier to its Space Coast neighbors remains to be seen. No supply agreements have been publicly announced. But the strategic logic of placing America’s first 300mm MEMS foundry in the same county as the nation’s densest concentration of defense electronics manufacturers does not require a press release to understand.
