Taiwanese chipmaker GlobalWafers has announced plans to invest an additional $4 billion in the US.
The comments were made by Doris Hsu, GlobalWafers chairperson and CEO, at the opening of the company’s new $3.5bn fab in Sherman, Texas.
In comments reported by Reuters, Hsu said: “Our US customers appear to have a very strong demand for US-based production capacity.”
She added: “Although tariffs [on semiconductors] have not been finalized… [US] customers are hoping to secure local supply to reduce the potential uncertainties that tariffs may bring.”
GlobalWafers is set to receive $406 million in direct funding from the US government’s CHIPS act to support the construction of two fabs, the newly opened facility in Sherman, Texas, and a second in St. Peters, Missouri, both of which will produce 300-mm wafers and silicon-on-insulator wafers.
The company is also planning to convert its existing silicon epitaxy wafer manufacturing facility in Sherman into a silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxy wafer manufacturing site, producing 150mm and 200mm SiC epitaxy wafers.
Following the opening of the Sherman site, the company announced plans to add two additional phases to the fab to help boost production capacity. Phase one has already been completed and is ready for production, while phase two is still in the planning stage.
The 142-acre campus in Texas can accommodate up to six phases. No timeline has been set for these additional phases.
“Phases one and two must be profitable, and we need to secure customers… who show strong interest in local production and are willing to sign long-term contracts,” Hsu said. “We also need reasonable pricing, prepayments, and government support. If these conditions are met, we’ll move ahead.”
Trump has previously pledged to “return production” of computer chips and semiconductors to the United States by imposing a “100 percent tax” on their overseas production, claiming that tariffs would incentivize companies to manufacture chips in the US instead of Taiwan.
Following that announcement, in March, TSMC announced that it would invest $100 billion into the US – with it unclear how much of the previous figure is included in the number – after President Trump criticized Taiwan for ‘stealing’ America’s chip business, said that the CHIPS Act was a failure, and threatened tariffs.
In April, Nvidia also announced plans to produce AI supercomputers ‘entirely’ in the US, amid the looming spectre of growing tariffs.
However, President Trump has yet to impose any semiconductor-specific tariffs.
