Taiwan-based GlobalWafers, which supplies silicon wafers to semiconductor chipmakers, this week began building a facility in Sherman, Texas that can produce 1.2 million silicon wafers a month. At one point, the company decided between South Korea and the state of Texas, but chose the latter, much to the delight of American chipmakers.
Image source: GlobalWafers
According to the press release on the website GlobalWafers, it will be the first new facility of its kind in the United States in more than twenty years. It will produce 300mm silicon wafers, up to 1.2 million pieces per month, which will significantly reduce the US semiconductor industry’s dependence on imports of such wafers. Now less than 1% of the local industry is supplied with locally produced silicon wafers. The construction of such a plant is all the more important as many chip manufacturers are planning to build large new plants in the USA.
As previously mentioned, GlobalWafers’ new Texas Sherman facility will be operational within two years, employing at least 1,500 people and investing $5 billion to expand production if needed.
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