GlobalWafers will continue to build silicon wafer production facilities outside of Taiwan

Antitrust restrictions have prevented the Taiwanese company GlobalWafers from absorbing its German competitor, but it is quite ready to be content with organic business growth. Now it is the third largest supplier of silicon wafers in the world, the company has enterprises in nine countries, but in the coming years there will be more and more of them.

Image Source: GlobalWafers

At least, Doris Hsu, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of GlobalWafers, shared similar intentions in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review. According to her, the company will be forced to follow two main trends of our time: the transition to the use of electricity from renewable sources and strengthening supply chains by increasing the geographical diversification of production.

Previously, the bulk of GlobalWafers’ production capacity was somehow concentrated in Asia, but it is now preparing to launch a new facility in Texas next year, as well as a facility in Italy. The American project fell under the requirements of the subsidy program under the “Chip Act” in the United States, so the country’s authorities will provide GlobalWafers with about $400 million in financial assistance. In addition, Texas attracted the company with relatively inexpensive electricity and reasonable real estate prices.

Doris Xu is convinced that silicon wafers produced using renewable energy sources will become more competitive as the green agenda expands in industry. Even taking into account GlobalWafers’ intentions to build new facilities outside the Asian region, in the future at least half of the company’s silicon wafer production volumes will remain of Asian origin. In addition, in Taiwan, GlobalWafers will develop the production of silicon carbide wafers in a standard size of 200 mm, which will be in high demand among power electronics manufacturers.

In South Korea, the company sees sense in increasing production volumes of silicon wafers, as demand for HBM memory is growing. The company will also expand its presence in Malaysia and Japan, since the capabilities of the five GlobalWafers enterprises existing in the latter country are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the local semiconductor industry.

After the crisis of recent years, the semiconductor industry is recovering demand unevenly, as Doris Xu explains. The automotive electronics and consumer devices segment still has to digest warehouse surplus. Only the segment of components for artificial intelligence systems is currently showing rapid growth. According to the head of GlobalWafers, demand for silicon wafers in the global market will grow by double-digit percentage next year, and will continue to grow in 2026. Among the segments of the semiconductor market, it is the production of memory chips that currently dictates the highest demand for silicon wafers, so the well-being of their suppliers will largely depend on the situation in the memory market.