The U.S. semiconductor manufacturing building boom is on, fueled by a drive to boost onshore production and reduce shortages. Industrial Info Resources is tracking more than $300 billion worth of active semiconductor projects in various stages of development, from early planning to under construction. All list pipe, valves and fittings among their key equipment needs.

New York, Arizona and Texas lead the way in semiconductor plant development.

The building boom is bolstered by the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act). Signed into law on Aug. 9, 2022, it is designed to boost U.S. production and competitiveness.

Consulting management firm McKinsey & Co. recently noted that for many years, chip manufacturing had been consolidated in Southeast Asia and China. Semiconductors manufactured in the United States now account for only about 12 percent of the global total, down from 37 percent 30 years ago, according to a White House statement.

“The law aims to catalyze investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity,” according to McKinsey & Co. “It also seeks to jump-start R&D and commerciali¬zation of leading-edge technologies, such as quantum computing, AI, clean energy and nanotechnology, and create new regional high-tech hubs and a bigger, more inclusive science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce.”

The CHIPS Act directs $280 billion in spending over the next 10 years, according to the consulting firm. 

“The majority — $200 billion — is for scientific R&D and commercialization,” continues McKinsey & Co. “Some $52.7 billion is for semiconductor manufacturing, R&D and workforce development, with another $24 billion worth of tax credits for chip production. There is $3 billion slated for programs aimed at leading-edge technology and wireless supply chains.”

All of this translates into heady incentives for the domestic construction of semiconductor plants.

Semiconductor Projects: NY, AZ and TX

New York is home to some of the most substantial semiconductor project investments being tracked by Industrial Info, totaling $110 billion. Micron Technology, with the Onondaga County Office of Economic Development as a consultant, is planning what could be a multi-phased, $100 billion, 7.2 million-square-foot manufacturing campus on a 1,200-acre site at the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay, north of Syracuse. 

Construction would begin at the end of 2023, with the start of production by 2025. The complex would create 9,000 Micron jobs, according to the company.

Micron says the project represents the largest investment in New York state history, adding: “Micron’s New York mega-fab is part of its strategy to gradually increase American-made, leading-edge DRAM (dynamic random access memory) production to 40 percent of the company’s global output over the next decade.”

The project will receive $5.5 billion in incentives from the state of New York, plus federal grants and incentives from the CHIPS Act.

Micron said the New York facility will complement the company’s high-volume manufacturing fab in Boise, Idaho. The Idaho site could eventually include four 600,000-square-foot cleanrooms for a total of 2.4 million square feet of cleanroom space. The $15 billion Idaho project is planned to kick off this year, with completion in April 2030.

Also expected to kick off this year is GlobalFoundries’ $10 billion expansion of its semiconductor plant in Malta, New York, which entails adding nine buildings totaling 633,000 square feet to the existing 950,000-square-foot manufacturing plant.

Arizona takes second place in terms of semiconductor project investments, totaling more than $86 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co., which has the majority of the world’s market share of semiconductors, is more than a year into construction of its $12 billion chip fabrication facility in Phoenix. The multibuilding manufacturing campus will total 3.8 million square feet and include a four-story, 2.3 million-square-foot fabrication building with an initial production capacity of 20,000 wafers per month as well as supporting equipment to manufacture 5-nanometer semiconductors. The project is expected to wrap up in June 2024.

In December, Taiwan Semiconductor announced plans for a second fabrication facility at its Phoenix site, which is scheduled to begin production in 2026.

“The overall investment for these two fabs will be approximately $40 billion, representing the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona history and one of the largest foreign direct investments in the history of the United States,” the company said in its announcement. When complete, the two fabrication facilities will support 4,500 direct jobs and produce more than 600,000 wafers per year, the company adds.

Intel announced plans to spend $20 billion on two new chip factories at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. Groundbreaking at the site took place in 2021, with full operations expected in 2024. With the addition of the two new factories, the Ocotillo campus will house a total of six fabrication facilities. The new investment will create more than 3,000 high-tech jobs, the company said.

Texas comes in at third place, with more than $65.7 billion in semiconductor projects. Among the largest projects underway in the state is Samsung Group’s semiconductor manufacturing plant in Taylor, northeast of Austin. The project is the first phase of a larger complex that Samsung says will eventually require $25 billion in investment. Presently under construction is a 2.5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility to produce advanced logic chips to be used in applications such as automobiles, artificial intelligence and 5G devices. 

Construction began in the first half of last year and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024. The investment is anticipated to bring 2,000 jobs.

Other semiconductor fabs going up in the Lone Star State include Texas Instruments’ grassroot plant in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. The company broke ground on its 300-millimeter semiconductor fabrication plants on May 18. The potential $30 billion investment includes plans for up to four fabrication plants to meet demand over time, supporting as many as 3,000 direct jobs, the company said. 

The new fabs will manufacture tens of millions of analog and embedded processing chips daily to go into electronics for automobiles and other electronics applications. Two phases of construction are underway that will add 1 million square feet of manufacturing space along with support buildings and ancillary facilities to make wafers for automobiles and other electronics applications. Phase I and Phase II are expected to be completed in the summer of 2025.

Other States, Other Projects 

Utah is home to another big project by Texas Instruments: an $11 billion semiconductor wafer plant expansion in Lehi. Located next to an existing fabrication facility, the plans call for the construction of a 425,000-square-foot building addition and supporting equipment to fabricate 300-millimeter wafers. Construction would kick off at the end of 2023, with completion in the fourth quarter of 2026. 

The project marks the largest economic investment in Utah history, according to the company, and will create approximately 800 additional jobs.

In West Lafayette, Ind., on a 400-acre site next to Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus, construction is planned to start later this year on a $1.8 billion, 600,000-square-foot semiconductor facility by Skywater Technology Foundry that includes 100,000 square feet of cleanroom space. 

And in Siler City, N.C., construction is underway for a $2 billion semiconductor plant by Wolfspeed Inc. as part of plans for a $4.8 billion investment on a 350-acre parcel in the Chatham, Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site. Construction of the initial plant is planned for completion in the third quarter of 2024.

“State and local funding, including a Job Development Investment Grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, will support the development of the facility’s first phase and represents an approximately $1 billion incentive package from the state, county and local governments,” Wolfspeed said in its project announcement. 

“In addition, the company hopes to apply for and obtain federal funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to accelerate the construction and buildout of the facility. Over the next eight years, the company intends to continue to invest, looking to create roughly 1,800 jobs.” 

Brian Ford is editor in chief at Industrial Info Resources and has been with IIR since 2014. With global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and 18 offices worldwide, IIR is a provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. To contact IIR, visit www.industrialinfo.com or call 713-783-5147.