GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) yesterday unveiled a new capacity expansion plan worth NT$100 billion (US$3.59 billion) as part of its effort to boost capacity and satisfy strong customer demand after its takeover of Germany’s Siltronic AG failed last week.
The world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier expects the expansion plan to support its revenue growth over the next few years.
This year, revenue could grow by a double-digit percentage on an annual basis as raw wafer demand remains “quite good,” even with some special wafers in short supply, GlobalWafers said.
Photo: Fang Wei-jie, Taipei Times
“While the failed completion of our offer for Siltronic is disappointing, we have pursued a dual-track strategy from the beginning of the tender offer,” GlobalWafers chairwoman and CEO Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during a teleconference yesterday. “I am excited that we can now consider a broad range of options to advance technological development and enhance our capacities.”
The new capacity expansion plan consists of two parts — a new 300mm fab, or green field investments of US$2 billion, and brown field investments of US$1.6 billion on capacity expansion of factories in multiple sites throughout Asia, the US and Europe, Hsu said.
If the Siltronic deal had been given the green light, “our green field investments would be different in scale compared with our previous calculations,” she said.
GlobalWafers dismissed some investors’ concerns about possible oversupply in 2024, saying that new green energy investments worldwide would alleviate supply tightness as raw wafer demand continues to grow on the emergence of new applications.
“The fundamentals did not change at all during the past three months. It is very healthy, although some demand might dip a bit this year,” Hsu said. “Supply continues to be tight.”
“The planned new capacity is mostly for wafers in severe shortage,” she said. “I believe GlobalWafers will continue to be buoyed by the latest capacity expansion.”
Surges in manufacturing costs — in transportation, electricity, raw materials and labor — pose the greatest challenges for the company, Hsu said.
GlobalWafers plans to ramp up production in the new fab in 2024, along with adding capacity from existing factories in the second half of next year.
The company plans to expand capacity for polished wafers, epitaxial wafers, silicon-on-insulator wafers, float-zone wafers, silicon carbide wafers, gallium nitride-on-silicon wafers and other large next-generation products.
The failed Siltronic purchase would not be a barrier to other potential merger and acquisition targets, Hsu said.
However, the company is facing greater challenges in dealmaking, given GlobalWafers’ rising market share amid geopolitical tensions, she said.
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