Taiwan-based GlobalWafers secured up to $406 million in direct funding under the CHIPS Acts, supporting its planned $4 billion investment in advanced semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities two US states.
The funds allocated by the US Department of Commerce (DoC) will be based on the completion of specific milestones by the chipmaker’s US subsidiaries GlobalWafers America and MEMC over a multi-year period.
Some $6 million of the overall direct grant will go to strengthening workforce development activities in the US.
Semiconductor Industry Association president and CEO John Neuffer explained in a statement the companies facilities in Texas and Missouri will expand domestic wafer production — most of which currently is done in East Asia — and “strengthen America’s semiconductor supply chain, job creation and economic growth”.
The plant in Texas will produce advanced 300mm silicon wafers, while the factory in Missouri will manufacture 300mm silicon-on-insulator wafers, both scheduled to start operations in the first half of next year and create more than 800 permanent jobs.
GlobalWafers also will apply for credit of up to 25 per cent of qualified expenditures at the two facilities, under the US Treasury Department’s advanced manufacturing investment scheme.
The company signed a preliminary agreement with the DoC in July, with the award announced after it completed due diligence.
The semiconductor wafer supplier operates 18 facilities in nine countries.
Samsung lined up $4.7 billion in US funding in April, while Intel won $8.5 billion in direct funding a month earlier.
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