GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that it plans to invest an additional US$4 billion in the US, citing growing demand from US customers seeking locally produced wafers amid ongoing uncertainty over US tariff policies.
The announcement was made at the opening ceremony of the company’s new advanced 12-inch wafer fabrication plant in Sherman, Texas. The latest commitment would bring GlobalWafers’ total investment in the US to US$7.5 billion, the company said.
“We have seen fervent demand from American customers for our local capacity in the US. Although the product verification process is still underway, those American companies have shown strong interest in booking more local capacity,” GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told reporters during a conference call yesterday.
Photo courtesy of GlobalWafers Co
“They are hoping to secure more local supply in order to reduce tariff uncertainty,” Hsu said.
GlobalWafers supplies silicon wafers to major chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, plans to build six wafer fabrication plants, as well as a chip packaging facility and a research- and-development center in the US, with a total investment of US$165 billion.
Citing data from the White House, GlobalWafers said that Nvidia Corp and several other semiconductor companies have pledged to boost their US investments to at least US$500 billion.
Three years ago, GlobalWafers announced a US$3.5 billion investment to fund the first and second phases of its flagship expansion project in the US, supported by the CHIPS Act.
The first fabrication facility is now operational and scheduled to begin high-volume production in the second half of this year, the company said.
The additional US$4 billion investment would fund phases three and four of GlobalWafers’ expansion in Sherman, where the company operates a 57-hectare manufacturing campus, the company said.
Upon completion of all four phases, monthly production capacity is expected to surge to more than 1 million 12-inch wafers, it said.
“This is an aggressive and bold target, but we will not hastily pour all of the US$4 billion in. We will not make any further investment if we do not translate every phase of expansion into earnings or secure [sufficient] long-term supply agreements,” Hsu said.
GlobalWafers has not set a timeline for the construction of new wafer fabrication facilities under phases three and four. Consistent with its past approach, the company typically proceeds with new capacity expansion only after securing long-term supply agreements, with most of the capacity prebooked by customers and supported by prepayments.
As the only advanced wafer manufacturer operating in the US, the additional investment, bolstered by continued support from the US government and US President Donald Trump’s administration, is expected to help ensure a stable supply of advanced wafers critical to powering a wide range of next-generation technologies and innovations, GlobalWafers said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS