Taiwan-based GlobalWafers—which is building a $5 billion silicon wafer manufacturing plant in Sherman through its local subsidiary GlobiTech—will get up to $400 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build and expand facilities in Sherman as well as in St. Peters, Missouri.

The funding is being provided under the federal CHIPS and Science Act, part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to “usher in a new era of semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.”

The investment, announced Wednesday, would establish “the first domestic source of 300mm silicon wafers for advanced chips and expand production of silicon-on-insulator wafers, strengthening the domestic supply chain for key semiconductor components,” the Commerce Department said.

The move is aimed at helping to onshore “critical semiconductor wafer production and advance U.S. technology leadership,” the department added.

Creating 1,700 new construction jobs and 880 manufacturing jobs

Around 1,700 new construction jobs and 880 manufacturing jobs are slated to be created by the investment.

In Sherman, about 65 miles north of Dallas, the investment would establish the first 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing facility for advanced chips in the U.S.—providing a “key input” used in manufacturing “leading-edge, mature-node, and memory chips.”

In St. Peters, Missouri, the investment would establish a new facility to produce 300mm silicon-on-insulator (“SOI”) wafers. Often used in the defense and aerospace industries, SOI wafers allow for “significantly improved performance in harsh environments.”

The supported projects in Sherman and St. Peters will have total capital expenditures of around $4 billion, the department said.

‘Helping to secure our supply chains’ for ‘the backbone of advanced chips’

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the Biden administration is “restoring our leadership in the entire semiconductor supply chain—from materials to manufacturing, to R&D.”

“With this proposed investment, GlobalWafers will play a crucial role in bolstering America’s semiconductor supply chain by providing a domestic source of silicon wafers that are the backbone of advanced chips,” she added in a statement. “As a result of this proposed investment, the Biden-Harris Administration is helping to secure our supply chains, which will create over 2,000 jobs across Texas and Missouri and ultimately lowering costs and improving economic and national security for Americans.”

“The semiconductor wafers that will come from today’s announcement will be the foundation for the complex chips we need to compete in the global economy. We’re bolstering our national security, advancing our clean energy transition, and creating good jobs that support families in Texas and Missouri.”

90% of silicon wafers are currently made in East Asia 

Currently, around 90% of silicon wafers are sourced from East Asia. GlobalWafers is one of five companies that currently hold over 80% of the global 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing market, the department noted.

“The semiconductor wafers that will come from today’s announcement will be the foundation for the complex chips we need to compete in the global economy,” Arati Prabhakar, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement. “We’re bolstering our national security, advancing our clean energy transition, and creating good jobs that support families in Texas and Missouri.” 

GlobalWafers subsidiary GlobiTech was founded in Sherman in 1999. [Photo: GlobiTech]

GlobalWafers to convert part of its silicon epitaxy wafer facility in Sherman

In 2022, GlobalWafers selected Sherman for the construction of a $5 billion silicon wafer manufacturing plant through its subsidiary GlobiTech, which was founded in 1999 in Sherman. GlobiTech is a global leader in silicon epitaxy products and services to the worldwide semiconductor industry.

Under the plan announced today, GlobiTech will convert a portion of its existing silicon epitaxy wafer manufacturing facility in Sherman to silicon carbide (“SiC”) epitaxy wafer manufacturing—producing 150mm and 200mm SiC epitaxy wafers. SiC epitaxy wafers are a critical component for high-voltage applications, notably including electric vehicles and clean energy infrastructure, the Commerce Department noted.

Part of the SMU-led Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub 

GlobalWafers is a member of the Southern Methodist University-led Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub and is also participates in the North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium led by UT Dallas.

To boost its local workforce, GlobalWafers has also partnered with Sherman High School, Denison High School, and Grayson College to establish an electronics lab at the schools. The lab offers targeted training towards technician certifications required in semiconductor industry jobs.

CHIPS for America has earmarked $30B-plus to boost semiconductor manufacturing
CHIPS for America has announced up to $30.1 billion in proposed funding across 13 preliminary memoranda of terms to revitalize America’s semiconductor industry, the Commerce Department noted. Those proposed investments “are already delivering significant results, including unlocking more than $300 billion in public and private investment between now and the end of the decade—far and away the most investment in new production in the history of the U.S. semiconductor industry,” the department added.

Raimondo announced earlier this year that the U.S. is on track to produce 20% of the world’s leading-edge chips by the end of this decade. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the U.S. is slated to triple its domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity from 2022—when the CHIPS and Science Act was enacted—to 2032.

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