The funds for projects in Texas and Missouri will establish the first high-volume US production of 300-mm wafers for advanced semiconductors and expand production of silicon-on-insulator wafers, the commerce department said.
The wafers are a crucial component of advanced semiconductors and part of the Biden administration’s efforts to boost the domestic chips supply chain.
The subsidy will support nearly $4 billion in investments by GlobalWafers in both states to construct new wafer manufacturing facilities and create 1,700 construction and 880 manufacturing jobs.
“We look forward to innovating with our US-based chip customers for decades to come,” GlobalWafers chief executive officer (CEO) Doris Hsu.
GlobalWafers said in 2022 it would build a $5 billion plant in Texas to make 300-mm silicon wafers used in semiconductors, switching from a defunct plan to invest in Germany.
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Currently, five major companies including GlobalWafers control more than 80% of the global 300-mm silicon wafer manufacturing market and about 90% of silicon wafers are produced in east Asia. GlobalWafers plans to build and expand facilities in Sherman, Texas, to produce wafers used to manufacture leading-edge, mature-node, and memory chips and a new facility in St. Peters, Missouri, for wafers used for defense and aerospace chips.
The department has been racing to finalize awards under the 2022 $52.7 billion 2022 CHIPS and Science Act semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20 .
Last week, Commerce finalized a $6.165 billion government subsidy for Micron Technology to produce semiconductors in New York and Idaho.
Commerce has finalized other awards in recent weeks including a $7.86 billion award for Intel, $6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s opens newUS unit and $1.5 billion for GlobalFoundries.
