Texas Instruments starts work on new 300-mm wafer production plant in Texas

Semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments has announced that it will begin construction next year on a new 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in Texas’ Sherman. North Texas has the potential to hold up to four such plants, called in short as ‘fabs’. The construction of the first two plants is set to begin in 2022. 

“TI’s future analog and embedded processing 300-mm fabs at the Sherman site are part of our long-term capacity planning to continue to strengthen our manufacturing and technology competitive advantage,” said Rich Templeton, TI’s chairman, President and CEO.

The factories are expected to produce their first chips in early 2025. The total investment potential is estimated to be about $30 billion if all four fabs are built and could potentially employ 3,000 workers.

The new fabs are expected to complement TI’S existing plants that produce 300-mm chips, these include DMOS6 in Dallas Texas, RFAB1 in Richardon, Texas, and RFAB2 expected to start production in the second half of 2022 also in Richardson. TI also acquired Micron Technology’s Utah semiconductor plant in June this year, which is expected to start making chips in early 2023.  The 2020-2021 global chip shortage crisis is still underway, with the demand for integrated circuits, is larger than the supply. The crisis is impacting nearly 169 indsutries globally, according to a April 2021 report by Goldman Sachs.   

The Indian smartphone market also noticed a year-over-year decline of 12 per cent in the third quarter of 2021, owing to the chip shortage. The smartphone market had realised four consecutive quarters of growth previously.