TI’s Wafer Fab Expansion Program

21 November, 2021

Three months after acquiring Micron's manufacturing plant, TI announced the construction of two new 300-mm semiconductor wafer fabrication plants. The goal: Securing production capacity for the next 15 years

Above: Design concept for Texas Instruments’ new 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabs in Sherman, Texas

Texas Instruments is scaling up its chip manufacturing capacity, and announced plans to begin construction next year on its new 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabrication plants (fabs) in Sherman, Texas. The new site has the potential to hold four fabrication plants that will supports TI’s long term growth goals, but currently it is starting with the first two plants “Our long term strategy is aimed to increase our production capacity”, said TI’s Chairman, President and CEO, Richard Templeton.

The production in these new plants is expected to start in 2025. TI estimates that the total investment in the site could reach approximately $30 billion and create 3,000 direct jobs. Along with the existing 300mm plant in Dallas, TX, the company is now involved with the re-building and enlarging other fabrication plants: The RFAB1 and RFAB2 300-mm plants in Richardson, TX are expected to start production in the second half of 2022. The LFAB plant in Lehi, Utah, which was acquired in July 2021 from Micron for $900 million.

Originally, the Lehi LFAB was a memory production fab. Texas Instruments is now replacing major portion of its equipment in order to prepare it for the production of analog and embedded components. It is expected to begin production in early 2023. During the past two weeks TI is distributing a presentation among its major customers, demonstrating it extension plans and its dedication to expand its production capabilities. The presentation, has reached Techtime, and includes also an expansion plan of TI’s assembly and testing factory in Chengdu, China.

TI is moving to 300mm

The presentation shows that in the current Chinese site there are two factories: a chip production factory (CFAB) and an Assembly & Testing factory (CDAT1). At the same site, TI plans to add additional 300,000 square foot assembly & testing factory named CDAT2, which is supposed to double the assembly and testing capacity for the whole site.

Texas Instruments is ranked by IC Insights as the ninth largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. In 3Q-2021 its revenues grew 22% comparing to the same quarter 2020, to a total of  $4.64 billion – Analog accounted for 75% and Logic and Embedded accounted for 18%. During the a conference call with analysts last month, said TI’s Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi that as of today, 80% of the company’s production is done by its own plants, and approximately 20% is outsourced.

“We are looking at the company’s potential for growth into the next 10 and 15 years, not the next four or five years.” The purpose of the expansion plan is to support customers’ demands and to decrease production costs, he explained. “This is the why we invest in 300-mm fabs. The efficiency of 300-millimeter is huge, because 300-millimeter wafer accounts for almost 2.3 times a 200-millimeter wafer.”

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