
TI, Micron fabs highlight the high cost of politics

Texas Instruments (TI) has re-announced its plans to invest in seven semiconductor fabs in the US at an increased cost of $60bn.
Like the recent announcement by Micron Technology for US memory fabs, the TI announcement covers existing investments in fabs. The investments in Richardson and Sherman, Texas as well as Lehi in Utah, are backed by $1.6bn of grants from the US government’s CHIPS Act, agreed in December 2024 before the Trump administration took over.
The TI announcement seems to cover two new fabs in Sherman, SM3 and SM4, that were suggested in 2021 with a $30bn price tag but still with no starting date. As TI is taking well over three years to bring its 300mm fabs to full production, this is indicating a peak for the analog and power markets in 2030 as the overall semiconductor market approaches $1 trillion.
This comes as another US semiconductor, Wolfspeed, is reportedly set to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the next few days, partly as the result of the high cost of building its 200mm silicon carbide fab in Mohawk Valley, New York.
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TI’s first new fab in Sherman, SM1, will begin initial production this year, three years after breaking ground. Construction is also complete on the exterior shell of SM2. The incremental investment plans include two additional fabs, SM3 and SM4, first announced back in 2021.
TI’s second fab in Richardson, RFAB2, is ramping up full production having started in 2022. This followed the company’s first 300mm analog fab, RFAB1, in 2011
TI is ramping LFAB1, the company’s first 300mm wafer fab in Lehi, Utah, acquired from Micron Technology back in 2020. Construction is also well underway on LFAB2, TI’s second Lehi fab that will connect to LFAB1.
“TI is building dependable, low-cost 300mm capacity at scale to deliver the analog and embedded processing chips that are vital for nearly every type of electronic system,” said Haviv Ilan, president and CEO of Texas Instruments. “Leading U.S. companies such as Apple, Ford, Medtronic, Nvidia and SpaceX rely on TI’s world-class technology and manufacturing expertise, and we are honoured to work alongside them and the US government to unleash what’s next in American innovation.”
Last week Micron Technology announced an additional $50bn investment in fabs in Boise, Idaho and New York over the next ten years, with $50bn for R&D in Boise. This brought the total planned investment to $200bn and brought an additional $275m in CHIPS Act support to modernise its fab in Virginia, starting this year. This is alongside $6.4bn in CHIPS Act support currently agreed but not dispensed and the highly political announcement appears to be a bid to ensure that the funding continues to flow. However this is not guaranteed as the administration favours tariffs over grants.
The expansion at Micron includes two leading-edge high-volume fabs in Idaho, up to four leading-edge high-volume fabs in New York and advanced packaging capabilities for high bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI applications.
Micron expects its second Idaho fab to come online before the first New York fab and following the completion of the second Idaho fab, Micron plans to bring advanced HBM packaging capabilities to the US.
“This approximately $200 billion investment will reinforce America’s technological leadership, create tens of thousands of American jobs across the semiconductor ecosystem and secure a domestic supply of semiconductors—critical to economic and national security. We are grateful for the support from President Trump, Secretary Lutnick and our federal, state and local partners who have been instrumental in advancing domestic semiconductor manufacturing,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, Chairman, President and CEO of Micron.
Like TI, the first of the new fabs are only just coming online, with the first Idaho fab with DRAM output scheduled to begin in 2027. The memory market is also notoriously fickle, with deep troughs. Micron says it will continue to manage its supply growth consistent with market conditions, which means several of those fabs may not be built.
Both the TI and Micron announcements are backed by political support to bring chip manufacturing back to the US, as highlighted by both the Trump administration and customers.
“For nearly a century, Texas Instruments has been a bedrock American company driving innovation in technology and manufacturing,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick. “President Trump has made it a priority to increase semiconductor manufacturing in America – including these foundational semiconductors that go into the electronics that people use every day. Our partnership with TI will support U.S. chip manufacturing for decades to come.”
“Texas Instruments’ American-made chips help bring Apple products to life, and together, we’ll continue to create opportunity, drive innovation, and invest in the future of advanced manufacturing across the US,” said Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.
“At Ford, 80% of the vehicles we sell in the U.S. are assembled in the U.S., and we are proud to stand with technology leaders like TI that continue to invest in manufacturing in the US,” said Jim Farley, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company.
The shortage of automotive microcontrollers such as those made by TI was a key problem for the supply chain in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“At Medtronic, our medical technologies rely on semiconductors to deliver precision, performance, and innovation at scale,” said Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO of Medtronic, based in Ireland. “Texas Instruments has been a vital partner – especially during the global chip shortages – helping us maintain supply continuity and accelerate the development of breakthrough therapies. We’re proud to leverage TI’s US-manufactured semiconductors as we work to transform healthcare and improve outcomes for patients around the world.”
SpaceX is using TI’s latest 300mm SiGe technology manufactured in Sherman for its StarLink satellite broadband terminals.
“SpaceX is manufacturing tens of thousands of Starlink kits a day – all in the US – and we are making huge investments in PCB manufacturing and silicon packaging to expand even further,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX. “TI’s US-made semiconductors are crucial for securing a U.S. supply chain for our products, and their advanced silicon manufacturing capabilities provide the performance and reliability needed to help us meet the growing demand for high-speed internet all around the world.”
TI is also working with Nvidia to supply power devices for its 800V power architecture for AI factories and hyperscaler data centres which will be one source of higher volumes for power devices.
