GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. has announced fresh investment plans after its potential acquisition of Siltronic AG failed to materialize. The proceeds originally intended for the acquisition are now earmarked for capital and operating expenses. GlobalWafers foresees total capital expenditures of 100 billion New Taiwan dollar (US$3.6 billion) from 2022 to 2024, including substantial greenfield investments.

The buyout involves voluntary all-cash tender offer for the outstanding ordinary shares of Siltronic. The negotiation  failed to reach all completion conditions, in particular all regulatory approval by Jan. 31, 2022, which is the final deadline.

Doris Hsu, Chairperson and CEO of GlobalWafers, commented, “While the failed completion of our offer for Siltronic is disappointing, we have pursued a dual-track strategy from the very beginning of the tender offer. I am very excited that we can consider now a broad range of options to advance technology development and enhance our capacities.”

Expansion Plans

GlobalWafers now considers a number of brown- and greenfield capacity expansion plans, including 300mm wafer and epitaxial wafer (EPI), 200mm and 300mm silicon on insulator wafers (SOI), 200mm float-zone wafers (FZ), silicon carbide (SiC) wafers (including SiC Epi), gallium nitride on silicon wafers (GaN on Si) and other large-size next-generation products.

The expansion plan targets investments across Asia, Europe and the United States of up to NTD 100 billion spanning both brownfield and greenfield projects. The new production lines are expected to ramp up in the second half of 2023 and to be expanded on a quarterly basis.

GlobalWafers shall focus on strengthening its growth by building new production lines. These include lines that specialize in next-generation products for advanced processes targeting large-size wafers and compound semiconductors. Wafers for advanced processes will play a larger role in the product spectrum of GlobalWafers, thus further optimizing its product mix.

GlobalWafers aims to be ahead of its peers for mass production of new products in order to capture timely the new business opportunities from innovative end applications, enhance its first mover advantage, increase revenue scale and expand business territory for the benefits of its customers and shareholders.