The next American tech hub might be … Sherman, Texas
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President Biden looking at the type of silicon wafer that will soon be made in Sherman. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
After securing promises of more than $35 billion in investments from several international corporations that make semiconductors, the city of Sherman — about an hour and a half north of Dallas, near the Oklahoma border — is on the verge of becoming a global technology hub.
Driving the news: Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate agreed to move forward with legislation that would send more than $52 billion in subsidies and tax credits to companies that build semiconductors in the United States.
- Yes, but: Weeks of partisan jostling put the bill in jeopardy, despite pleas from the Biden administration.
Why it matters: A shortage of semiconductors has led to global supply chain woes and stymied the production of everything from vehicles to home appliances.
- Earlier this year, the Department of Commerce announced that American companies using the chips were down to a five-day supply.
- Some of the proposed investments — in Sherman and elsewhere in the U.S. — could hinge on the pending legislation.
What's happening: GlobiTech, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based GlobalWafers Co., recently agreed to build a $5 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant in Sherman.
- It is expected to bring 1,500 jobs to the city of 45,000.
- GlobiTech was also considering sites in Ohio and South Korea.
State of play: To lure GlobiTech, the Sherman Economic Development Corp. offered $20 million in cash payments and the sale of nearly 150 acres of land, worth over $14.4 million, for $1 an acre, per the DMN.
- The Texas Enterprise Fund also contributed a $15 million grant.
- The city of Sherman, Grayson County and Grayson College all offered tax incentives, and the city offered a discount on water bills.
- Because it's close to Lake Texoma, one of the few Texas reservoirs at full capacity, Sherman also has access to the large amount of water required in semiconductor manufacturing.
Flashback: In May, Dallas-based Texas Instruments broke ground on what's expected to be a $30 billion, four-factory semiconductor manufacturing campus in Sherman.
- In 2018, Apple supplier II-VI (then known as Finisar) opened a factory in Sherman, producing parts for the iPhone.
Threat level: Intel announced the company will delay its $20 billion chip site in Ohio if Congress fails to pass the subsidy bill, and GlobiTech's CEO told the DMN his company is "in the same boat."
What we're watching: Texas Instruments has said the first factory could produce tens of thousands of 300mm wafer semiconductor chips a day by 2025.
- GlobiTech has said its new Sherman facility could eventually produce 2.4 million silicon wafers every month.