Where Are All the New Semiconductor Fabs in North America & Europe?

In the last year, a number of companies have announced new semiconductor fabrication sites being built in the US and Europe. These announcements mark a shift in where fabrication has typically taken place–and highlight growing concerns around the geopolitical risk overseas semiconductor fabs carry.

But keeping track of all the new semiconductor fabrication sites can be complicated at best. We’ve compiled a list of all the new and notable fabrication sites being built in the US and Europe. 

Why Semiconductor Fabrication Sites Are Being Built in the West

In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States faced a sudden and catastrophic shortage of semiconductors. This shortage negatively affected dozens of major industries, including automakers, consumer electronics, renewable energies, and home appliances. The financial repercussions were immense: according to the US Department of Commerce, the shortage stunted US economic growth by somewhere in the range of a quarter-trillion dollars for that year. 

Beyond the financial consequences, the chip shortage laid bare just how dependent many US industries had become on semiconductors produced in Asia. The pandemic served as a sharp jolt, even a rude awakening. The nation’s sprawling dependence on semiconductors produced in Asia left the economy vulnerable in the face of unforeseeable events. 

It was this financial fallout that led to the creation of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act (otherwise known as the CHIPS Act). Signed into law on August 9, 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act directs nearly $53 billion to “American semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development,” as a White House press release explained at the time. 

In April of 2023, the European Union announced a similar plan. The European Chips Act earmarks 43 billion euros (around $47 billion) for building up the semiconductor industry in the 27 member states, with the express aim of doubling their global market share from 10% to 20% by 2030. The goal, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is to “jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem.” These two massive pieces of legislation are major catalysts for what many are now calling a semiconductor fabrication renaissance. 

Europe and the US are now embarking on a sweeping effort to build their own semiconductor fabrication plants and achieve greater independence in semiconductor production. 

Read also: What Should a Good Risk Analysis of Semiconductor Suppliers Include?

Where Are the New Semiconductor Fabs in North America & Europe?

So where, exactly, is this semiconductor fabrication renaissance taking place? Let’s take a look at the US states and European cities where some of the most notable semiconductor fabrication sites and plants are being built. (Note that this is not a comprehensive list, but rather an attempt to showcase some of the most important developments in the global landscape of semiconductor fabrication plants.

Arizona

Fab 52

Owner: Intel

Location: Chandler, AZ

Completion Date: 2024

Fab 62

Owner: Intel

Location: Chandler, AZ

Completion Date: 2024

Fab 21

Owner: TSMC

Location: Arizona

Completion Date: 2025

Nodes: 3nm & 5nm

Arizona has been a major hub for fabrication plants since at least 1980, when Intel opened a semiconductor fab in Chandler (about 25 miles southeast of Phoenix). Since then, the state has continued living up to its reputation as the so-called “semiconductor desert.” 

In September 2021, Intel broke ground on two more semiconductor fabs, dubbed Fab 52 and Fab 62, on its Ocotillo campus in the Chandler area (upon their completion, Intel will have six factories on the campus). These factories are slated to produce 7 nm semiconductors using the company’s 20A fabrication technology. 

Together, the two fabrication plants will cost around $20 billion, with a planned completion date sometime in 2024.

In addition to the new Intel fabs, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has also set its eyes on Arizona as a landing spot for a new facility. Announced in 2020, TSMC’s new semiconductor fabrication plant, Fab 21, will produce 3- and 5-nanometer chips and have a capacity of roughly 20,000 WSPM (wafer starts per month). When it does begin operations, the $40-billion facility will become only the third semiconductor fabrication plant TSMC has built outside of Taiwan (the other two are based in Washington and China). 

While TSMC’s Fab 21—sometimes called TSMC Arizona—was originally slated to become operational sometime in 2024, earlier this year the company announced that it was going to have to push the plant’s opening to 2025. Though the initial construction of the facility was completed in 2022, TSMC has since struggled to procure enough technicians to install the fab’s sophisticated equipment. In an earnings call with investors and analysts earlier this year, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu explained that the company was grappling with an “insufficient amount of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility.” 

Texas

Taylor Fab (1-10)

Owner: Samsung

Location: Taylor, TX

Completion Date: 2023-2042

Nodes: 5nm

Sherman Fab

Owner: Texas Instruments

Location: Sherman, TX

Completion Date: 2025

Nodes: 28nm

Samsung Foundry, Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing division, stands behind only TSMC as the world’s largest contract maker of chips. The South Korean-based company has had a presence in Texas since the late 1990s, when it built its first US-based semiconductor fabrication plant in Austin (now known as the S2 foundry). 

In 2021, Samsung announced that it would be breaking ground on a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor, Texas—roughly 16 miles from its S2 foundry—and funneling around $17 billion into construction, equipment, machinery, and improvements to the space. (Samsung declared it to be the single largest investment the company has ever made on US soil.)  The new fab is set to produce 5 nm nodes for high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence, and 5G, among other spaces in the technology sector, with a target operational date set for sometime in the second half of 2024. According to Samsung, the new semiconductor fab will “improve supply chain resilience of crucial logic chips,” no doubt nodding to the semiconductor shortage that bedeviled countless American industries in 2021. 

It’s also worth noting that Samsung’s new fab in Texas is only the first in an ambitious two-decade plan to build 10 total semiconductor fabs on a single site in the Taylor area, with a total price tag north of $170 billion. The final fabrication plant is slated to be completed sometime in 2042. 

Earlier this year, however, the company revealed that the price tag for the first semiconductor fabrication plant in its long-term rollout had ballooned to over $25 billion, nearly a 50% increase from Samsung’s original projection. The substantial jump was primarily triggered by inflation—specifically, the soaring costs of construction materials over the past two years. 

In addition to Samsung Foundry’s new plants, Texas Instruments last year began construction on a large semiconductor fabrication facility near Sherman, in North Texas. The project, which was launched in 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2025, is estimated to cost around $30 billion and is being pegged as the largest economic venture in the Lone Star State’s history. The plant will produce 28 nm chips on 12-inch wafers. As with many of the facilities outlined here, the new Texas Instruments plant is benefitting from substantial local incentives. 

Ohio 

Ohio Fabs (1-2)

Owner: Intel

Location: Columbus, OH

Completion Date: 2025

Nodes: 10nm

In addition to its new plants in Arizona, Intel has also begun construction on two semiconductor fabs just outside of Columbus, Ohio. The factories, which are estimated to cost around $20 billion, will produce 10 nm chips on 12 inch wafers. The plants are expected to be completed in 2025 and represent just the first phase of Intel’s multiyear plan to establish a new megasite that will house up to eight semiconductor fabrication plants in Licking County. (The total cost for the entire site is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $100 billion.) 

Intel, which already has major manufacturing hubs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, was drawn to setting up new operations in Ohio in part because of generous incentives offered by the state totaling around $2 billion. On top of those state funds, Intel is also lobbying the federal government for financial support from the CHIPS and Science Act. The two plants will be manufacturing chips on Intel’s 18A and 20A nodes. 

New York 

Clay Fab

Owner: Micron Technology

Location: Clay, NY

Completion Date: TBD

Fab 8.2

Owner: GlobalFoundry

Location: Malta, NY

Completion Date: 2025

Massey Fab

Owner: Wolfspeed

Location: Marcy, NY

Completion Date: 2022

While perhaps not as universally heralded as industry juggernauts like Intel and TSMC, Micron Technology is one of the world’s leading producers of computer memory and data storage, including dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and flash memory. The American company, which is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, announced last year that it would be breaking ground on what it called the “largest semiconductor facility in the history of the United States” in Clay, New York. Construction on the megafab, which is being referred to as the Clay Fab, is scheduled to begin in 2024, with an operational date slated for sometime in the “latter half of the decade,” according to Micron’s press release. The facility will produce DRAM. 

New York is also seeing a major local semiconductor manufacturing company grow its operations in the state. GlobalFoundry, which is headquartered in Malta, New York, responded swiftly to the global semiconductor shortage in 2021 by announcing a major expansion to its largest fabrication plant in upstate New York. In addition to the $1 billion expansion, GlobalFoundry also said it would be constructing an entirely new fab on the same campus, with an expected completion date of 2025. According to the company’s July 2021 press release, the new facility will manufacture “feature-rich” chips for the automotive, 5G, and other industries. 

This past spring, GlobalFoundry purchased 800 acres of land adjacent to its current Malta campus, giving it the space and flexibility to expand its manufacturing capacity, including via the construction of a new fab. 

Finally, Durham, North Carolina-based semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed is planning to ramp up production in its Marcy, New York-based Silicon Carbide fabrication facility, which officially opened in April 2022. The Marcy fab, which is the world’s only 8-inch Silicon Carbide fabrication facility, is expected to reach full production capacity by 2024. 

Idaho 

Boise Fab

Owner: Micron

Location: Boise, Idaho

Completion Date: 2025

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In addition to its planned megasite in New York, Micron also announced last year that it would be breaking ground on a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Boise, Idaho. The fab, which is expected to cost approximately $15 billion and manufacture DRAM, will be the first new memory fab built in the US in over two decades. With construction scheduled to start in 2023, the facility is expected to be completed sometime in 2025. Upon completion, Micron’s new Boise fab will house the single largest cleanroom ever built in the US. 

Florida 

Palm Bay Fab

Owner: Rogue Valley Microdevices, Inc.

Location: Palm Bay, FL

Completion Date: 2025

Not traditionally considered a hotbed for semiconductor manufacturing, Florida’s Space Coast will be the site for Rogue Valley Microdevices’ second fab. The Medford, Oregon-based company purchased a large commercial building in Palm Bay earlier this year, and plans to convert it into a facility equipped to produce microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensor devices. The facility will manufacture on 8 and 12 inch wafers, with a WSPM of 21,000. The company starts construction on the new site this year, with an anticipated completion date of 2025. 

Germany 

Magdeburg Fab

Owner: Intel

Location: Magdeburg, Germany

Completion Date: TBD

Dresden Fab

Owner: Infineon Technologies

Location: Dresden, Germany

Completion Date: 2026

Dresden Fab

Owners: Infineon, Bosch, NXP

Location: Dresden, Germany

Completion Date: 2027

Aided in no small part by the passage of the highly lucrative CHIPS and Science Act, the US has unquestionably enjoyed a major semiconductor manufacturing boom over the last two years. But the semiconductor fab renaissance hasn’t been completely restricted to the states. In the coming years, Germany will be leading Europe’s chip manufacturing revival with the construction of multiple new facilities. 

Last year, Intel chose the city of Magdeburg, in central Germany, as the site for two new factories estimated to cost north of $30 billion. The massive development project, which could take up to 10 years, is being supported by around 10 billion euros in German subsidies. Infineon Technologies, Germany’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, announced earlier this year that it won approval from the nation’s Economy Ministry to start construction on a $5.35 billion plant in the city of Dresden. The facility is planned to be completed by 2026. 

In addition to these new facilities, it was just announced in August that Dresden will also play host to a new fab that represents a joint venture between TSMC, Infineon, Bosch, and NXP. The semiconductor fabrication plant is expected to have a production capacity of 40,000 WSPM, and though details are relatively scarce at this time, many believe the semiconductor fab will focus its manufacturing capacities on the automotive industry. Construction is set to begin in the second half of 2024, with a target operational date for the end of 2027. 

Benefits of Semiconductor Fabrication Plant Resurgence 

The sudden growth spurt for the semiconductor industry across the U.S. and Europe will benefit these regions in a myriad of ways that are difficult to overstate. The multiyear process of building these large, highly sophisticated facilities creates thousands of well-paying construction jobs. Once the plants are completed and ready for fabrication, meanwhile, Intel, TSMC, and the other chip makers will require thousands of engineers, technicians, and other specialists to run the facilities, thus producing thousands more jobs for the surrounding areas. 

The development of these facilities could kick off a surge in high tech manufacturing that will bring real, lasting prosperity and growth to the cities and communities in which they’re based. This is certainly what the Biden administration and the EU envisioned when they passed their legislation. 

From a bigger perspective, the semiconductor fab renaissance underway in the Western Hemisphere offers countries the chance to build resilience against the unpredictable nature of a highly complex and delicate global supply chain. The semiconductor shortage of 2021 served as a powerful object lesson in the disadvantages of depending heavily on foreign nations for these invaluable and irreplaceable components. By diversifying the supply chain and increasing the volume of chip manufacturing at home, the US and European nations are helping themselves make their economies more independent, adaptable, and capable of weathering future geopolitical crises.