Three years after breaking ground on a project representing $40 billion in planned investments, Dallas-based Texas Instruments has started production at its newest 300mm semiconductor fabrication plant in Sherman, a city 50 miles north of Dallas.
Leaders from TI and state and local elected officials took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday to mark the opening of the state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor “fab.” Attendees included Governor Greg Abbott, Texas State Senator Brent Hagenbuch, Texas State Representative Shelley Luther, and Sherman Mayor Shawn Teamann, among others.
Texas Instruments’ SM1 wafer fabrication site in Sherman [Video still: TI]
Called SM1, the fab will ramp up production according to customer demand, TI said, and will ultimately produce “tens of millions of chips daily that go into nearly every electronic device”—from smartphones, automotive systems, and life-saving medical devices to industrial robots, smart home appliances, and data centers.
TI President and CEO Haviv Ilan said the production launch at his company’s newest wafer fab “represents what TI does best: owning every part of the manufacturing process to deliver the foundational semiconductors that are vital for nearly every type of electronic system.”
“As the largest analog and embedded processing semiconductor manufacturer in the U.S., TI is uniquely positioned to provide dependable 300mm semiconductor manufacturing capacity at scale,” Ilan added in a statement. “We’re proud to have called North Texas home for nearly a century, and excited about how TI technology will enable the technological breakthroughs of the future.”
Open comes amidst a ‘semiconductor manufacturing boom’
The new plant’s production start comes against the backdrop of a major boom in artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing, and data center construction—with a growing impact happening right here in North Texas. (Just today, the Dallas-based Texas Pacific Land Corporation announced a strategic agreement with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Bolt Data & Energy to develop and enable large-scale data center campuses and supporting infrastructure across TPL’s massive Texas land holdings.)
Governor Abbott stressed the significance of the Sherman fab’s production start.
“Semiconductors are essential to building the space and artificial intelligence infrastructure that will define our future,” Abbott said in a statement. “Today’s announcement by Texas Instruments helps Texas to expand our No. 1 ranking and helps lead the semiconductor manufacturing boom we have here in Texas.”
The governor said that with help from TI, Texas “will remain the home for cutting edge semiconductor manufacturing and the home of more job opportunities than any other state in the United States of America.”
TI’s semiconductor manufacturing leadership
TI is America’s largest foundational semiconductor manufacturer, producing analog and embedded processing chips critical for virtually all modern electronic devices. The company is building on its nearly 100-year record of innovation leadership by expanding its 300mm semiconductor manufacturing footprint—and not just in North Texas. In June, the company announced plans to invest more than $60 billion across seven U.S. semiconductor “fabs” in Texas and Utah, marking what TI called “the largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in U.S. history.”
By owning and controlling its manufacturing operations, process technology, and packaging, TI aims to seek greater control of its supply to support customers for decades to come, in any environment, the company said.
More to come in Sherman
TI’s “mega-site” in Sherman is slated for more big openings in the future. The company has plans for up to four connected wafer fabs that will be constructed and equipped in alignment with market demand. Combined, the site will support as many as 3,000 direct jobs, TI said, along with thousands of additional jobs in support industries.
Texas Instruments developed the world’s first commercial silicon transistor in 1954, followed by Jack Kilby’s invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. The company operates 15 manufacturing sites around the world, giving it “greater control of its supply chain” to get customers the products they need, TI said.
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