Wolfspeed to build world’s largest SiC wafer plant
Wolfspeed is to build the world’s largest plant for the supply of silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina in the US
The 200mm wafer plant at Chatham County will see a 10x increase in the supply of SiC wafers over its current supply from Wolfspeed’s Durham campus. The wafers will be used to supply Wolfspeed’s Mohawk Valley Fab, which opened earlier this year as the world’s first, largest and only fully automated 200mm Silicon Carbide fabrication facility.
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Phase one construction is anticipated to be completed in 2024 and cost approximately $1.3 billion with $1bn of state and local funding. Between 2024 and the end of the decade, the company will add additional capacity as needed, eventually occupying more than one million square feet on the 445-acre site.
The company aims to tap into the CHIPS and Science Act to accelerate the construction and build-out of the facility. Applications for funding are set for February 2023, and a motivation for the claim of the world’s largest plant.
Over the next eight years, the company intends to continue to invest, looking to create roughly 1,800 jobs.
“Wolfspeed’s decision further validates North Carolina as the epicenter of clean energy,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. “This is another milestone in our drive toward a clean energy economy as it will boost electric vehicle manufacturing and offshore wind while fighting climate change and putting money in the pockets of every day North Carolinians with great paying jobs.”
Wolfspeed is also working with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) to train staff for the plant. In 2020, Wolfspeed committed $4 million over five years to the NCAT, at the time, the single largest donation in the university’s history, to create the Wolfspeed Endowed Scholars Program.
This partnership will open opportunities for undergraduate and graduate credentials in Silicon Carbide semiconductor manufacturing, as well as training and career advancement programs for existing semiconductor manufacturing workers.
“North Carolina A&T is proud to partner with Wolfspeed to provide new opportunities to pursue the next generation of careers in the green economy, drive innovation and explore new possibilities,” said Harold Martin, chancellor at N.C. A&T. “Throughout our rich history as a doctoral, land-grant university and the largest historically Black university in the country, we have believed in the power of our students to change the world.”
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