The Biden-Harris administration will give up to $400 million in funding to Taiwan-based semiconductor part producer GlobalWafers under the CHIPS and Science Act with a large portion going to North Texas.
As the fight for control in the semiconductor space rages on with the United States’ biggest adversaries like Russia and especially China dominating the space, turning funding over to GlobalWafer’s Sherman site is crucial to the country keeping up with ongoing and future demand for semiconductors and their parts.
The $400 million will be shared between GlobalWafers’ Sherman facility and a new one in St. Peters, Mo. The investment would create 1,700 construction jobs and 880 manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
GlobalWafers plans to spend $4 billion total on both facilities.
The Sherman facility is expected to create 1,200 construction jobs and 750 manufacturing positions.
In April, the White House announced $6.4 billion for Samsung’s semiconductor facility in Taylor, part of a broader effort to spark domestic semiconductor production.
Even Gov. Greg Abbott has jumped all in on semiconductors through announcements like the formation of an innovation group focused on increasing production in the state.
It’s part of what some have dubbed the “chip wars.” China has been a thorn in the U.S.’ side as the world’s leading semiconductor market with 31.4 percent of the global market and $180 billion in sales in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
It means that the U.S.’ latest CHIPS commitment isn’t just about securing control in an important industry, it’s about national security, said Arati Prabhakar, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“The semiconductor wafers that will come from today’s announcement will be the foundation for the complex chips we need to compete in the global economy,” she said. “We’re bolstering our national security, advancing our clean energy transition and creating good jobs that support families in Texas and Missouri.”
Department of Commerce officials declined to comment on exactly how much the Sherman facility will receive. But the Texas project was described by a Department of Commerce official as “larger” and that “a large part of the funding will be geared towards Texas.”
There’s also still some negotiations the U.S. and GlobalWafers have to get through before the exact amount of money is dedicated to either facility. The funding will depend on CHIPS for America evaluating each site and determining later how much money each facility will need.
It’s a process that could take years and entirely depends on how quickly construction and company deadlines can be met.
GlobalWafers — based in Hsinchu, Taiwan — is a semiconductor silicon wafer manufacturer that announced in 2022 it had selected Sherman as the home for its semiconductor silicon wafer site. Construction on the site began that same year. It will be a 3.2 million-square-foot facility, making it the biggest of its kind in the country.
The facility will be making 300mm silicon wafers, an important part in manufacturing semiconductors since they essentially serve as the foundation of microelectronic devices, one senior administration official said. The new series of funding will also give the Sherman facility the ability to produce 150mm and 200mm wafers.
The company is a part of the Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub out of Southern Methodist University, works with the University of Texas at Dallas’ Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium and has partnered with Sherman High School, Denison High School and Grayson College to develop an electronics lab at those schools.
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