GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it did not receive any notification from the US CHIPS Program Office regarding potential changes to funding conditions for the firm’s two new fabs under construction in the US.
The company’s remarks came amid speculation that US President Donald Trump is to review the CHIPS and Science Act subsidy requirements.
During his presidential campaign last year, Trump criticized the CHIPS Act and has said he favors tariffs over subsidies to promote the construction of manufacturing facilities in the US.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
“We are not notified to review [the conditions] or to make any adjustments,” GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told reporters during an annual media gathering in Hsinchu. “Our strategy is to go global and provide locally made wafers to our customers. If we were really impacted by this, we will have to recalculate before making further investments.”
GlobalWafers would be well-positioned to offset any policy changes or potential tariffs by the US government than other semiconductor firms, given its diversification of manufacturing sites, including in the US, Hsu said.
Since 2022, GlobalWafers has invested in capacity expansion in the US, she said, adding that there were no plans to alter the investment project for the time being.
The company’s goal is to supply locally made wafers to foundry companies and chip designers in the US, which is in line with the US government’s policy, she said.
GlobalWafers expects the US Department of Commerce to disburse the first batch of funding later this year.
The company in December last year said that it would receive US$406 million in subsidies from the US government for two new US fabs under the act.
The grant represents 10 percent of the planned investments of US$4 billion in an advanced 12-inch silicon wafer manufacturing facility in Texas and a 12-inch silicon-on-insulator wafer plant in Missouri.
Those two factories are “essential” to bring chip manufacturing back to the US, Hsu said, citing US media reports.
The Texas fab is to start shipping wafers next quarter at the earliest, she said.
GlobalWafers yesterday also gave its outlook for this year.
“The first quarter would be the bottom. A more marked recovery should be seen in the second half of this year and a more brisk recovery in 2026 based on messages from multiple customers,” Hsu said, adding that demand for advanced silicon wafers is healthy this quarter.
The company expects a recovery for the rest of this year, Hsu said.
This year as a whole would be better than last year, she said.
Last year, GlobalWafers’ revenue declined 11.36 percent to NT$62.63 billion (US$1.91 billion) from NT$70.65 billion a year earlier, attributable to inventory correction and soft demand.
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SUPPLY RESILIENCE: The extra expense would be worth it, as the US firm is diversifying chip sourcing to avert disruptions similar to the one during the pandemic, the CEO said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) on Wednesday said that the chips her company gets from supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would cost more when they are produced in TSMC’s Arizona facilities. Compared with similar parts from factories in Taiwan, the US chips would be “more than 5 percent, but less than 20 percent” in terms of higher costs, she said at an artificial intelligence (AI) event in Washington. AMD expects its first chips from TSMC’s Arizona facilities by the end of the year, Su said. The extra expense is worth it, because the company is
The seizure of one of the largest known mercury shipments in history, moving from mines in Mexico to illegal Amazon gold mining zones, exposes the wide use of the toxic metal in the rainforest, according to authorities. Peru’s customs agency, SUNAT, found 4 tonnes of illegal mercury in Lima’s port district of Callao, according to a report by the non-profit Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA). “This SUNAT intervention has prevented this chemical from having a serious impact on people’s health and the environment, as can be seen in several areas of the country devastated by the illegal use of mercury and illicit activities,”
RSS