HSINCHU, Taiwan, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Taiwanese silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers is preparing for the phase two expansion of its plant in the U.S. state of Texas, subject to customer commitments, Chairperson Doris Hsu told reporters on Wednesday.
In May of last year, GlobalWafers said it would invest an additional $4 billion in the United States to meet growing customer demand there, after opening a new $3.5 billion wafer facility in Texas.
The existing plant, GlobalWafers' most advanced fully integrated 300mm (12 inch) silicon wafer facility, is the first of its kind built in the U.S. in more than two decades and is currently the only advanced wafer manufacturing site in the country.
"Regarding additional investment (in the U.S.), we have started to be asked by customers," Hsu told reporters in the northern Taiwanese city of Hsinchu.
"We think phase one may not be enough, because phase one does not serve just one customer but multiple customers, and each of them has mentioned that they would like capacity to increase."
The company is readying itself in advance, and carrying out factory design, so that when customers are ready and commitments agreed, it can "shorten the timeline" for when production starts, she added.
GlobalWafers is a supplier to the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC, which is investing $165 billion in factories in Arizona.
The United States and Taiwan reached a trade deal last week under which Taiwanese companies will invest $250 billion to boost production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence in the United States, and the tariff on Taiwan's exports to the country will be cut from 20% to 15%.
"It is clear that the United States places strong emphasis on the resilience of local supply chains and is willing to introduce a range of measures to encourage the establishment of local supply. This direction is in line with our expectations," Hsu said of the deal.
GlobalWafers has 18 production and operational sites across nine countries. In the U.S., it has manufacturing facilities in Texas and Missouri.
Silicon wafers are critical components in chip manufacturing and larger wafers are widely used in advanced chip production as they allow for more chips to be produced per wafer, increasing cost savings.
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kate Mayberry)
