Global Semiconductor Revitalization - New Fabs Around the World

Semiconductors power trillions of dollars of products, enabling advances in communications, transportation, clean energy, healthcare, military systems, and numerous other applications.  

Chip shortages, geopolitics and natural disasters have recently exposed global supply chain vulnerabilities, highlighted manufacturing dependencies and impacted the economy.  

In the past year, the U.S., China, Europe, and various other countries have declared semiconductors to be a vital component to their nation’s security and advancement. Billions of dollars have been pledged by these governments to help advance their local chip manufacturing capabilities. 

This has fueled semiconductor powerhouses such as GlobalFoundries, Intel, Samsung, TSMC, and Texas Instruments to start building new semiconductor production facilities around the world with government subsidies, helping them expand production and reduce their geographical vulnerabilities and dependencies.  

Z2Data has compiled a detailed New Global Fabs Report. Here are some highlights. For the full report please contact Z2data.

New Fabs in the U.S.  

The U.S. $52 billion chip act will help bolster the U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity which decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% in 2021, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). The U.S. designs around 47% of the chips sold worldwide and with these new incentives will increase its local chip production and R&D. A few notable fabs include: 

• Global Foundries (Vermont) 
  Global Foundries was awarded $30 million in federal funding to expand the development and production of next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon semiconductors at GF’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. 

• Intel (Arizona, Ohio) 
  Intel is spending billions of dollars increasing their production by building fab complexes in Ohio and Arizona. Construction of the Fab 52 and 62 in the Ocotillo campus near Chandler, Arizona, is well underway and estimated to start production in 2024, focusing on 12-inch wafer 7nm technology node production. Intel is also building two new fabs near Columbus, Ohio, which are expected to produce 10nm node technology sometime in 2025. 

• Micron (Idaho, NY, Oregon, Texas) 
  Micron recently announced its plan to invest over $40 billion through the end of the decade to establish leading-edge memory manufacturing in the U.S. They will be constructing new fabs in Idaho, NY, Oregon, and Texas to increase their DRAM production and meet long-term demand in market segments like data center, industrial, automotive, and mobile, fueled by adoption of artificial intelligence and 5G. Although the near-term demand environment for memory and storage is challenged, memory market revenue is expected to double by 2030. 

New Fabs in Europe  

The European Chips Act stated that the EU is targeting an increase its share of the global semiconductor industry from 9% now up to 30% by 2030. The EU chip act is targeting to mobilize more than €43 billion of public and private investments to strengthen Europe’s semiconductor production and R&D. A few notable fabs include: 

• France (STMicroelectronics & Global Joint Venture) 
  A new jointly operated, high-volume manufacturing facility is planned to support the growing demand. The multi-billion-euro project is made possible with significant financial support from France focusing on the GF FDX™ technology and ST’s 18nm and 28nm technology for automotive, clean energy, IoT and communications infrastructure applications. 

• Germany (Infineon, Intel, TSMC) 
  Infineon is planning to continue expanding its 300-millimeter manufacturing capacity, with a planned total investment of EUR 5 billion in Germany.  
  
  Intel has announced its plans to invest as much as 80 billion euros in the European Union over the next decade along the entire semiconductor value chain – from research and development (R&D) to manufacturing to state-of-the art packaging technologies. As part of the plan, they are investing an initial 17 billion euros into a leading-edge 10nm semiconductor fab mega-site in Germany. 
  
  TSMC is also reportedly planning to build a fab in Germany. The fab site will be located in Dresden, which is becoming Europe’s largest clusters for semiconductor businesses such as, Infineon Technologies, NXP Semiconductors, GlobalFoundries, and Bosch. 

New Fabs in Asia  

Asia Pacific is the largest regional semiconductor market. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) report, almost 75% of the global installed capacity is concentrated in East Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and China. These countries continue to incentivize manufacturers to help expand their market hold. South Korea, for example, plans to spend around $450 billion to establish the world’s largest chipmaking base over the next decade and China, has also committed $150 billion till 2030, to build a thriving domestic semiconductor industry. A few notable fabs include: 

• SMIC (China) 
  Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) announced plans to expand their 12 in, 28nm fabs in Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin. They will be spending billions of dollars with the support of the government helping build up China’s domestic chip sector. 

• Foxconn (India) 
  Vedanta and Foxconn will be setting up a 1000-acre semiconductor fab facility in Gujarat's capital Ahmedabad. Productions will begin in 2024 and focus on high demand automotive and mobile device markets.  

• SK Hynix (South Korea) 
  SK Hynix is investing over $106 billion in semiconductor project building a large fab complex south of Seoul, expanding its DRAM production. Additionally, they plan to build the M15X(eXtension), a new fabrication plant, in Cheongju, the new plant will be completed in early 2025.