Taiwanese Silicon Wafer Manufacturer, GlobalWafers Bags $406 Million in US Semiconductor Subsidies Award
The US Department of Commerce has finalized a $406 million Chips Act funding for Taiwanese chip manufacturer, GlobalWafers. According to Reuters, the US semiconductor subsidy to GlobalWafers is aimed at boosting its silicon wafer production in the country.
GlobalWafer’s Investment
According to the US Commerce Department, the subsidy will enable GlobalWafers to establish the first high-volume 300-mm wafers production facilities in Texas and Missouri.. The Taiwanese company will also use the funding to increase its production of silicon-on-insulator wafers. These wafers are an important component of US advanced semiconductors.
“We look forward to innovating with our U.S.-based chip customers for decades to come,” GlobalWafers CEO Doris Hsu said.
The Taiwanese semiconductor maker has already made a GlobalWafers U.S. investment valued at $4 billion. Through this investment, the company is setting up new wafer manufacturing factories in Texas and Missouri. The new Taiwan chips subsidy will support this investment and help the company create 880 manufacturing and 1700 construction jobs.
Chips Act funding to US companies is part of the Biden administration’s strategy to spur domestic semiconductor production.
Silicon Wafer Production Market
The silicon wafer production market isn’t saturated yet. GlobalWafers and five other companies currently control over 80% of the 300-mm silicon wafer manufacturing market in the world. Over 90% of the world’s silicon wafers are manufactured in East Asia.
In 2022, GlobalWafers announced that it will be setting up a $5 billion factory in Texas to manufacture 300-mm silicon wafers that are used in semiconductors. This was a shift from the company’s initial plan to set up such a plant in Germany.
GlobalWafers will be constructing and expanding production facilities in Sherman, Texas. The wafers produced in this facility will be used to make mature-node, leading-edge, and memory chips. Its Missouri facility will be located in St. Peters. The company will produce wafers for defense and aerospace chips in this facility.
Race Against Time
Following the November 2024 elections, the Department of Commerce has been rushing to finalize awards for semiconductor manufacturers before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. The US government committed to award a total of $52.7 billion in grants, loans, and tax credits under the Chips and Science Act semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program.
To date, the Department has finalized several awards to US-based semiconductor manufacturers. These include memory chip maker Micron Technology that will receive a $6.1 billion subsidy to construct semiconductor production facilities at its New York and Idaho factories. The two facilities are expected to create up to 20,000 jobs by the year 2030. The Department of Commerce finalized a $6.6 billion subsidy award to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in November 2024.
The Commerce Department has also finalized a deal to award giant chip manufacturer Intel a $7.86 billion subsidy. Intel’s federal chips grant was reduced from the initial $8.5 billion after the chip maker experienced challenges meeting stringent performance benchmarks for the funding.
US chip maker, Wolfspeed was awarded $750 million to expand its North Carolina and New York production facilities. The company manufactures silicon carbide wafers that are used in advanced computer chips.
