TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — GlobalWafers is preparing for the second phase of expansion at its Texas plant, Reuters quoted company Chair Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) as saying Wednesday in Hsinchu.

The Sherman, Texas, facility is the company’s most advanced 300 mm integrated wafer production site. It opened in May last year as phase one, with a NT$110.7 billion (US$3.5 billion) investment.

Phase two preparatory work, including preliminary designs, aims to match phase one’s capacity and position the site as a flagship US production base. GlobalWafers reportedly plans an additional NT$126.5 billion investment across phases three and four, potentially raising total US spending to NT$237.2 billion.

Reuters reported that Hsu said, “Regarding additional investment, we have started to be asked by customers.”

GlobalWafers operates 18 production and operational sites across nine countries. The Texas site, the first advanced US wafer fab in over 20 years, supports rising demand for larger wafers used in advanced chip manufacturing. It is said to have received NT$12.8 billion in federal CHIPS Act funding and created hundreds of jobs.

GlobalWafers’ high-purity silicon manufacturing capabilities have also been applied to quantum research. A recent study using ultra-pure silicon produced by Topsil, a subsidiary of GlobalWafers, showed that when the material was used in superconducting quantum bits, system stability improved significantly, allowing devices to operate reliably for longer periods.