The US Department of Commerce and Texas Instruments have reached preliminary non-binding deadlines for $1.6 billion in federal funds for the construction of three IT semiconductor plants, two in Texas and one in Utah. The funds would come from the CHIPS and Science Act, Commerce announced on August 16.
In addition, TI says it expects to claim between $6 billion and $8 billion in tax credits for the investment in the three projects, estimated at $18 billion. The company is working to grow its domestic manufacturing to more than 95 percent by 2030, Haviv Ilan, TI’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
“The landmark CHIPS Act is enabling more semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the US, making the semiconductor ecosystem stronger and more resilient,” said Ilan.
All three projects are designed for LEED Gold certification for operational efficiency and sustainability, according to TI. Production could begin as early as 2025 at the Sherman site and 2026 at the new Lehi plant.
Austin Commercial is working on all projects, though neither IT nor the contractor immediately responded to inquiries about the construction. Work at the Sherman, Texas, site began in 2022, and TI has shared plans to later build another pair of semiconductor manufacturing plants at the site. Together, the four “fabs” would contain 1.4 million square feet of clean rooms for making 300mm semiconductor wafers.
In Lehi, Utah, TI is building a second factory to accompany one it bought from Micron in 2021 for $900 million. The works started last year.
TI plans to use the CHIPS funding for the construction of the clean room at the first Sherman factory and the first pilot production line, the shell for the second Sherman factory and the clean room at the Lehi factory.
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 included $39 billion to incentivize the construction, expansion and modernization of factories. The deal with TI follows similar announcements by other chipmakers, including GlobalFoundries, TSMC and Micron. The largest amount of direct funding offered through the program is $8.5 billion to Intel to support projects in four states.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement that chip shortages during the early peaks of the COVID-19 pandemic “fueled inflation and made our country less safe.” This shortage led to supply chain disruptions for several sectors, including automotive, industrial and defense manufacturers.
“With this proposed investment … we would help secure the supply chain for these critical semiconductors used in every sector of the US economy and create thousands of jobs in Texas and Utah,” Raimondo said .
The Commerce Department has also earmarked program funding for the construction of smaller manufacturing projects and facilities focused on developing advanced semiconductor packages, prototyping new types of chips, and supplying chipmakers.
