U.S. in Preliminary $400M Deal with GlobalWafers to Build 300mm Silicon Wafer Fabs

roposed $400 million CHIPS + Science Act investment to build what the agency said would be the first domestic fab for 300mm silicon wafers and expand production of silicon-on-insulator wafers.

The agreement, characterized as a “non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms,” with GlobalWafers and its MEMC LLC subsidiary calls for:

  • Sherman, Texas: Establish the first 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing facility for advanced chips in the U.S. These wafers are used by foundries and integrated device manufacturers to manufacture leading-edge, mature-node, and memory chips.
  • St. Peters, Missouri: Establish a new facility to produce 300mm silicon-on-insulator (“SOI”) wafers, which allow for improved performance in harsh environments and are commonly used in defense and aerospace.

There are five leading companies, including GlobalWafers, that currently hold over 80 percent of the global 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing market and approximately 90 percent of silicon wafers are sourced from East Asia today, according to the Commerce Department.

Part of the PMT calls for GlobalWafers to convert a portion of its existing silicon epitaxy wafer manufacturing facility in Sherman, Texas to silicon carbide (“SiC”) epitaxy wafer manufacturing, producing 150mm and 200mm SiC epitaxy wafers. SiC epitaxy wafers are a critical component for high-voltage applications, including electric vehicles and clean energy infrastructure.

Supporting the development of a local semiconductor workforce in Texas, GlobalWafers is a member of the Southern Methodist University-led Texoma Tech Hub and is involved in the North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium led by the University of Texas Dallas.

Commerce said the investment would create 1,700 construction jobs and 880 manufacturing jobs, with total capital expenditures of approximately $4 billion across Texas and Missouri.

CHIPS for America has announced up to $30.1 billion in proposed funding across 13 preliminary memoranda of terms for the U.S. semiconductor industry.