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TI opens new semiconductor factory in Sherman
Gov. Greg Abbott helped to cut the ribbon on a new $40 billion factory that’s set to produce millions of semiconductor chips each day.
SHERMAN, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott helped to cut the ribbon on a new $40 billion factory that’s set to produce millions of semiconductor chips each day.
The Texas Instruments plant in Sherman will also create about 3,000 new jobs.
What we know:
This project has been years in the making.
It took 3.5 years to transform the empty plot of land in Sherman, located about 60 miles north of Dallas, into TI’s new 300mm semiconductor wafer fabrication facility.
Texas Instruments picks Sherman for new semiconductor plant site
Dallas-based Texas Instruments selected Sherman as the location for several multi-billion-dollar semiconductor plants.
It’s expected to produce millions of chips per day. That’s a big deal. The chips will be used to power all sorts of technology that people rely on daily.
The semiconductor chips will also help data centers that are popping up in Texas to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence.
What they're saying:
Abbott joined the company’s president and CEO for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"Paving the way for safer and more connected vehicles, and making the electronics we depend on every day – from the medical devices monitoring your health to the smartphones in your pocket – smarter, more efficient, and more reliable," he said. "Texas Instruments has made a Texas-sized investment, adding billions of dollars in investment, as well as thousands more employees."
The governor said Texas is now leading the nation in semiconductor manufacturing.
Dr. Joshua Rhodes is a research scientist at the University of Texas. He said the semiconductor facility will make a huge difference in shortening the supply chain.
He pointed to the pandemic as an example, when thousands of new vehicles sat idle at car dealerships because there was a shortage of the chips needed to power the technology in those new cars.
"During the pandemic, we saw supply chain interruptions, meaning we couldn’t get other types of, or we couldn’t get the components we needed to make the products that we wanted to buy and consume," he said.
Dr. Rhodes believes TI’s new facility is also good for future business development.
"The more high-tech that we bring to the state, the more high-tech that then will come to the state," he said.
The Source: FOX 4's Alex Boyer gathered information for this story after attending Wednesday's ribbon-cutting event.