Taiwan’s GlobalWafers wins $406M CHIPs Act funding

The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized up to $406M in funding for Taiwanese company GlobalWafers as part of the U.S. CHIPs Act to ramp up domestic silicon wafer production.

The company had reached a preliminary memorandum of terms with the Department in July. The department will allocate the funds based on GlobalWafers reaching certain milestones, according to a statement.

“The semiconductor wafers that will be produced here in the US 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,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in the statement. The investment will help “strengthen our supply chains, protect our national and economic security, and create an estimated over 2,000 jobs across Texas and Missouri.”

The funds will help establish factories in Texas and Missouri to produce 300 millimeter wafers for advanced semiconductors and support the construction of new wafer manufacturing facilities.

GlobalWafers and four other companies dominate the global 300 millimeter silicon wafer manufacturing market, with over 80% of the market. Roughly 90% of silicon wafers are produced in East Asia.

GlobalWafers becomes the latest company to receive money from the $52.7B CHIPs Act, which was signed into law in 2022 and was designed to boost domestic semiconductor production. The company plans to invest around $4B on the U.S. projects.

The commerce department has announced preliminary deals with more than 20 companies and has finalized agreements with some companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM), Intel (INTC), GlobalFoundries (GFS), Entegris (ENTG) and Micron Technology (MU).

The Biden administration is racing to get the deals finalized before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.