The Department of Commerce said on Dec. 18 that it finalized an award of up to $406 million of direct funding to GlobalWafers Co. Ltd. under the CHIPS and Science Act to create semiconductor wafer operations in the United States.
Finalization of the funding deal follows a preliminary agreement announced by the agency in July.
GlobalWafers is the third largest silicon wafer supplier in the world and is headquartered in Taiwan.
“The semiconductor wafers that will be produced here in the U.S. because of this investment in GlobalWafers are the foundation of the advanced chips that will help us out-innovate and out-compete the rest of the world,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement.
“As a result of this investment, CHIPS for America is working to strengthen our supply chains, protect our national and economic security, and create an estimated over 2,000 jobs across Texas and Missouri,” she said.
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 provides up to $52 billion in funding available to incentivize semiconductor makers to establish new manufacturing operations in the U.S.
The GlobalWafers projects in the works will secure nearly $4 billion in onshore investment and create approximately 1,700 construction and 880 manufacturing jobs, the Commerce Department said.
The facilities that will be built and expanded in Sherman Texas, and St. Peters, Mo., will create the first 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing facility in the U.S., along with 300mm silicon-on-insulator wafers to be used by the defense and aerospace sectors.
The company will also convert existing wafer making capacity to new silicon carbide epitaxy wafer manufacturing that supports high-voltage applications including electric vehicles and clean energy infrastructure.
“GlobalWafers is proud to be a CHIPS for America participant and the only global producer now building advanced wafer facilities in the United States,” Doris Hsu, chairperson and chief executive officer of GlobalWafers, said in a statement. “Through our new investments announced today, we look forward to innovating with our U.S. based chip customers for decades to come.”
The Commerce Department noted that funds will be received based on the completion of milestones by the company.
