GlobalWafers Corp (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, is preparing for new capacity expansion in the US as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications remains robust and customer requests for local supply increase.
The company sees rising demand for silicon wafers this year, as the AI boom boosts industry interest in advanced chips and chip packaging technologies, GlobalWafers said yesterday.
Additionally, customer inventories are improving significantly, stimulating higher demand for silicon wafers than last year, it said.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
Overall, GlobalWafers expects this year to be another growth year for the silicon wafer segment, albeit uneven growth, as some areas would pick up faster than others, GlobalWafers chairperson Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said at a media gathering in Hsinchu, comparing it to a similar scenario seen in the last super cycle in 2019.
“We are seeing faster growth in the advanced chip and chip packaging areas this time around,” she said.
In the US, GlobalWafers’ customers have been closely monitoring the company’s new capacity buildup, and are pushing the company to step up product qualification and ramp up production, as they have a high regard for enhancing local supply chain resilience, Hsu said.
GlobalWafers counts Apple Inc, Micron Technology Inc and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) among its customers with operations in the US.
GlobalWafers supplied a small volume of silicon wafers from its Texas plant after the first-phase production line was completed last year, but some customers have inquired about when the company would begin the second phase of capacity expansion, as the phase-one capacity could not sufficiently satisfy their demand, Hsu said.
The Texas facility has ample room for capacity expansion to six phases, she said.
“Every customer is requesting to increase [capacity],” Hsu said. “We have hired designers to work on this.”
The company is expected to make a decision in the second half of this year if an increase in output is justified, she said.
The second-phase project would add new capacity similar to the first phase’s, she added.
In addition to the Texas facility, the company is also expanding capacity at a smaller plant in Missouri to supply float-zone silicon wafers, which are increasingly used as the foundation for AI accelerators and quantum computing devices.
Riding on robust demand for advanced 12-inch silicon wafers to make AI chips and memory chips, GlobalWafers’ revenue this year is expected to resume growth, although not at a rapid rate, Hsu said.
A surge in memory demand helps the company raise wafer prices, she said.
Revenue should grow every quarter this year, meaning the first quarter would be the lowest of this year, Hsu said.
Gross margin would hold steady compared with last year, she said.
Last year, GlobalWafers’ revenue fell 3.24 percent to NT$60.6 billion (US$1.92 billion) from NT$62.63 billion in 2024.
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