(Reuters) – Chipmakers across the globe are pouring billions of dollars in investment to set up new plants, encouraged by the rising use of semiconductors in everyday devices and generous subsidies from the U.S. and European Union aimed at keeping the West ahead of China in the race for cutting-edge technology.
The European Commission has earmarked 15 billion euros for public and private semiconductor projects by 2030, while U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration passed the CHIPS Act last year to make over $52-billion worth of subsidies available for the American semiconductor industry.
The Act deters companies using U.S. funds from undertaking any big expansions of overseas semiconductor manufacturing facilities in “countries of concern” such as China for 10 years, with some exceptions.
India, Taiwan and South Korea have also offered incentives such as tax breaks to boost domestic chip production.
Below are some of the chipmakers’ plans for factories in Europe, North America and Asia:
NORTH AMERICA
Company Investment
Intel Last year, Intel said it would invest up to $100 billion to build
potentially the world’s largest chip-making complex in Ohio. The
company also broke ground on two new factories in Arizona in
September 2021.
Taiwan TSMC said in December it plans to invest $40 billion in its chip
Semiconduc plant in Arizona. The plant is scheduled to be operational in
tor 2024.
Manufactur
ing
Company
Ltd (TSMC)
Wolfspeed In September, Wolfspeed said it would build a new multi-billion
Inc dollar silicon carbide wafer factory in Chatham County, North
Carolina to make chips that power things such as electric
vehicles. Wafers are raw materials used for making chips.
Micron In October, Micron said it planned to invest up to $100 billion
Technology over the next 20-plus years to build a computer chip factory
complex in upstate New York. The company also announced a $15
billion factory in Boise, Idaho in September.
GlobalFoun GlobalFoundries in July 2021 said it will build a second factory
dries near its in Malta, New York, headquarters, and spend $1 billion
to boost output to address the global chip shortage.
Texas The company has several wafer fab projects underway, including in
Instrument Richardson and Sherman in Texas and in Lehi, Utah. It expects
s production at the Utah fab, which it bought from Micron for $900
million, to commence in 2026
Samsung In 2021, Samsung said it would invest in a $17 billion chip plant
Electronic in Taylor, Texas to make advanced chips for mobile, 5G,
s Co Ltd high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.
SkyWater It announced plans in July last year to invest $1.8 billion for a
Technology chip research and production facility in Indiana, in partnership
with the state and Purdue University.
EUROPE
Company Investment
Infineon Infineon won approval to begin work on a 5 billion euro
semiconductor plant in the German city of Dresden, it said on Feb.
16. Production is due to start in 2026.
Intel In March 2022, Intel picked the German city of Magdeburg as the
site for its new mega chip manufacturing complex, a key part of
its $88 billion investment drive across Europe.
Business daily Handelsblatt reported on Feb. 8 that Intel wants 10
billion euros of government funding for that factory.
It is also in talks with Italy for an advanced packaging and
assembly plant, using new technologies to weave together full
chips out of tiles.
STMicroele The Franco-Italian company said in October it plans to build a
ctronics 730 million euro silicon carbide wafer plant in Italy. Building is
due to be complete in 2026.
It also announced plans in July to build a semiconductor factory
in France in partnership with GlobalFoundries.
Taiwan According to a Financial Times report in December, TSMC is in
Semiconduc advanced talks with suppliers about setting up its first European
tor plant in the German city of Dresden.
Manufactur “We do not rule out any possibility but there is no concrete plan
ing at this time,” TSMC said in a statement
Company
Ltd (TSMC)
Wolfspeed The chipmaker will build a $3-billion electric vehicle chip plant
Inc and a research and development centre in Germany, it said on Feb.
1.
Production is planned to start in 2027 in the German state of
Saarland, with Wolfspeed’s Chief Executive Gregg Lowe telling
Reuters the plant is expected to rank as the world’s biggest
production facility for chips made out of silicon carbide.
ASIA
Company Investment
Intel Intel is considering a significant increase in its existing
$1.5-billion investment in Vietnam to expand its chip testing and
packaging plant in the Southeast Asian nation, Reuters reported in
February.
Taiwan TSMC plans to construct a second chip plant in Japan to manufacture
Semiconduc 5 and 10 nanometre chips from the second half of the decade, a
tor local newspaper reported in February.
Manufactur
ing
Company
Ltd (TSMC)
Samsung Samsung said on March 15 it will invest around 300 trillion won
Electronic ($230 billion) by 2042 to develop what the government called the
s Co Ltd world’s largest chip-making base, in line with efforts to enhance
South Korea’s chip industry.
Foxconn Foxconn and Indian oil-to-metals conglomerate Vedanta signed a pact
in September with India’s Gujarat to invest $19.5 billion in the
western state to set up semiconductor and display production
plants.
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos in Gdansk, Tiyashi Datta, Chavi Mehta and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; editing by Josephine Mason, Mark Potter and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
