The new 300mm facility in Sherman, which will break ground later this year, is expected to support up to 1,500 jobs and have a peak production volume of 1.2 million silicon wafers per month after various stages of equipment installation
GlobalWafers aims to begin production at the new silicon wafer factory in Texas in 2025. (Credit: Samuel Faber from Pixabay)
Taiwan-based GlobalWafers announced plans to construct a 300mm silicon wafer factory in Sherman, Texas with an investment of $5bn.
The facility will be the first of its type in the US for over 20 years.
GlobalWafers expects to begin construction on the silicon wafer factory later this year.
The new facility is likely to support up to 1,500 jobs. It will have a peak production volume of 1.2 million wafers per month after various stages of equipment installation, in line with market demand.
According to GlobalWafers, 300mm silicon wafers are the starting material for all advanced semiconductor fabrication sites (fabs), which include the recently announced fab expansions by GlobalFoundries, Samsung, Intel, TSMC, and Texas Instruments in the US.
Most of the 300mm wafers are presently manufactured in Asia, which leaves the US semiconductor industry to largely depend on imported silicon wafers.
GlobalWafers claimed that its investment in the new silicon wafer facility will close a highly important semiconductor supply chain gap.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said: “The Biden Administration has worked tirelessly to make the U.S. an attractive place to manufacture semiconductors and their components, and are excited that GlobalWafers chose Texas for their new facility.
“But we are at a make-or-break moment to expand domestic semiconductor production. Semiconductor firms need to make investment decisions by the fall to meet the enormous increased demand for chips.”
The greenfield investment in Texas is said to align with the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer’s announcement in February 2022 of committing NTD100bn ($3.37bn) towards brownfield and greenfield expansions through 2024.
GlobalWafers expects to begin production from the Sherman facility as early as 2025. The new North Texas site will be used by the company to address the shortage of silicon wafers which had played a role in the recent semiconductor crisis.
GlobalWafers chairman/CEO Doris Hsu said: “With the global chips shortage and ongoing geopolitical concerns, GlobalWafers is taking this opportunity to address the United States semiconductor supply chain resiliency issue by building an advanced node, state-of-the-art, 300-millimeter silicon wafer factory.
“Instead of importing wafers from Asia, GlobalWafers USA (GWA) will produce and supply wafers locally thereby reducing significant carbon footprint benefitting both customers and GWA in the current ESG tide worldwide.”