GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it has formed a new partnership with Apple Inc to supply 300mm silicon wafers from its new factories in the US as Apple accelerates its efforts to boost the US semiconductor manufacturing supply chain.
The announcement followed Apple’s pledge of US$100 billion in new investments in the US over the next four years, dedicated to bringing more of Apple’s supply chain and advanced manufacturing to the country. That raised Apple’s total US investment to US$600 billion.
Apple is partnering with GlobalWafers America (GWA), a US subsidiary of GlobalWafers, in Sherman, Texas, to produce advanced wafers for use in US-based semiconductor fabs for the first time.
Photo courtesy of GlobalWafers Co
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) fabs in Phoenix, Arizona, and Texas Instruments Inc’s fabs in Sherman would use GWA’s 300mm wafers to produce chips for iPhones and iPads sold in the US and around the world, Apple said.
“Over the past 30 years advanced silicon wafer production all but left America for lower-cost manufacturing hubs. Our new partnership with Apple, America’s most important end-user of silicon, is a powerful market signal that the entire semiconductor supply chain is now back in the US in full force,” GlobalWafers president Mark England said in a statement.
GlobalWafers’ new wafer manufacturing facilities in Texas would be eligible for an advanced manufacturing investment tax credit of up to 35 percent, the statement said.
The firm is the only manufacturer of advanced 300mm wafers to participate in US President Donald Trump’s “CHIPS for America” program.
Shares in GlobalWafers surged 9.97 percent yesterday to NT$375 following the announcement.
GlobalWafers in May said it planned to invest US$4 billion in advanced 300mm wafers in Sherman. The new investment commitment would bring the firm’s total investment in the US to US$7.5 billion.
GlobalWafers earlier this week said that the company would consider bringing forward the next phase of capacity expansion in the US based on the demand profile of its US customers.
The company’s first new plant in Texas is scheduled to begin high-volume production in the second half of this year, it said.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) said it has come up with a new pathway to shorten its gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), potentially achieving a breakthrough in making advanced semiconductors without cutting-edge equipment. Right now there is about a five-year gap between what TSMC is capable of and what Huawei, together with its manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯), can produce. Huawei is to start making 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 with its own “LogicFolding” technology, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo (何庭波) said in a rare public appearance during a chip conference yesterday, while TSMC has
RSS