GlobalWafers Expands Overseas Amid Tariff Worries: Taiwan’s Silicon Giant Bolsters US and European Operations

GlobalWafers from Taiwan is enhancing its chip production capabilities abroad due to concerns over potential tariffs. The company, which is the world's third-biggest supplier of silicon wafers, is broadening its manufacturing footprint in the US and Europe. Meanwhile, CEO Doris Hsu has voiced apprehensions about a possible 'special tariff'.

GlobalWafers is proactively expanding its manufacturing capacities abroad in anticipation of increased duties on chip materials. This highlights the escalating belief that reciprocal trade actions will disrupt the semiconductor supply chain in the foreseeable future.

The third biggest global supplier of silicon wafers is increasing the size of its facilities in six out of the nine nations it operates in. This includes two expansions in the United States, along with factory enlargements in Italy and Denmark.

Doris Hsu, the chairwoman and CEO of GlobalWafers, expressed to Bloomberg Television her belief that special industry tariffs may be imposed not just in the United States but in other nations as well. She suggested that these potential tariffs could be circumvented by transitioning to domestic production.

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TSMC, the world's biggest contract chip manufacturer, has officially opened its first facility in Japan.

Global governments are progressively seeing semiconductor technology as a matter of national security in light of chip shortfalls during and post the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely impacted multiple sectors, including automobile production. The escalating geopolitical conflicts have further heightened the importance of the issue.