Inside America's secret weapon against foreign tech dependence and growing national security threats
Northrop Grumman is producing vital semiconductor chips in the U.S.
The Virginia-based defense company manufactures millions of chips in America each year, FOX Business correspondent Max Gorden reported Friday from its factory in Baltimore, Maryland.
At the facility, Gorden showed a "wafer" that contained "thousands of microchips."
"They’re all on here, and then they’re eventually cut out toward the end of the process," he explained.
He also showed the "clean room" where he said Northrop Grumman staff were "actually testing out these microchips" before they left the production line.
The American multinational aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) logo on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company makes the chips for usage in military aircraft, defense ground radar systems, electronic warfare systems, space and weather satellites and other technology, according to Northrop Grumman.
Production of a chip typically takes "a couple of weeks" but the defense company can "speed things up if there’s a national security need," according to Gorden.
The chips can cost anywhere from a "couple of cents" to "hundreds of thousands of dollars" depending on the complexity, with the average being in the "tens to hundreds of dollars," he reported.
Northrop Grumman senior manager Dave Shahin told FOX Business that the microelectronics made at the Maryland facility "are the core of those national defense systems."
"They are the brains and the nervous system that allows those sensors to react to the world around them and ultimately enables them to do their jobs and to keep our war fighters safe," Shahin said.
Northrop Grumman, which has produced its chips entirely in the U.S. for many decades, is in a "good position," Gordon reported.
The Northrop Grumman logo is displayed on a building at the aerospace company's Space Park facility in Redondo Beach, California on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) / Getty Images)
The Trump administration has been looking at potentially levying tariffs against semiconductors imported into the U.S, with President Donald Trump saying earlier this week that chips from other countries could face a tariff at the end of this month. Countries such as Taiwan, China and South Korea are among some of the countries that are major producers of semiconductors.
In addition to microelectronics, Northrop Grumman produces a broad range of military aircraft, defense weapons and systems, mission systems and other technology.
The Northrop Grumman logo is seen on a building in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, on March 11, 2019. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company’s market capitalization hovered around $74.64 billion as of Friday afternoon.