GlobalWafers (6488)
GlobalWafers (6488) is the world’s third-largest silicon-wafer maker and the main Western-capacity play, running the only advanced 300mm wafer fab on US soil, in Sherman, Texas. Q1 2026 revenue fell 10% to NT$13.98 billion at a 20.8% gross margin as new lines ramp. It reports next in early August 2026.
| Ticker | 6488 |
|---|---|
| Exchange | TPEx |
| Sector | Materials · Semiconductor Silicon Wafers |
| Country | Taiwan |
| Wikidata | Q42260199 |
| Last updated | 2026-07-05 |
Next event: Next earnings · Q2 2026 (ending June 2026) , estimated · Calendar-estimated: GlobalWafers reports Q2 in early August (Q1 2026 board meeting/results were May 5, 2026); not yet confirmed on the IR calendar. Its fiscal year ends December 31. (source)
Latest reported quarter: Q1 2026 (ended Mar 31, 2026) (reported 2026-05-05)
GlobalWafers reported Q1 2026 revenue of NT$13.98 billion, down 10.3% year over year, with a 20.8% gross margin, operating income of NT$1.48 billion, and net income of NT$1.9 billion (EPS NT$3.97), the latter lifted by mark-to-market gains on its Siltronic shares. Excluding ramp-up lines, 12-inch utilization stayed fully loaded, and the new Texas 300mm fab continued equipment installation and customer qualification.
| Revenue (Q1 2026) | NT$13.98B -10.3% YoY · Gross margin 20.8% |
|---|---|
| Operating income | NT$1.48B · Operating margin 10.5% |
| Net income / EPS | NT$1.9B · EPS NT$3.97; lifted by Siltronic mark-to-market gains |
| CHIPS Act funding received | ~US$317.8M · US direct funding + AMIC as of Q1 2026 |
Recent & upcoming events
- · GlobalWafers America opens in Sherman, Texas. GlobalWafers held the grand opening of GlobalWafers America, a fully integrated 300mm silicon-wafer fab in Sherman, Texas, a US$3.5 billion project described as the only US-based advanced-silicon-wafer manufacturing. (source)
- · Q1 2026 revenue down 10%; Texas fab qualifying customers. Revenue of NT$13.98 billion (down 10.3%) at a 20.8% gross margin; 12-inch utilization stayed fully loaded excluding ramp-up lines, the Texas fab secured customer qualifications, and Missouri's 12-inch SOI line entered mass production. (source)
Q1 2026 figures (quarter ended March 31, 2026) are from GlobalWafers' results released May 5, 2026. Net income includes non-operating mark-to-market gains on Siltronic shares. No revenue segments or numeric guidance were disclosed.
Figures are as of 2026-07-05 and reflect the most recent public filings/IR releases; they are updated after each earnings report.
What does GlobalWafers do?
GlobalWafers makes silicon wafers, the discs of single-crystal silicon that every chip is fabricated on. It produces polished, epitaxial, and silicon-on-insulator wafers, plus compound-semiconductor substrates such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, and it spun off from Taiwan’s Sino-American Silicon in 2011. With Shin-Etsu and SUMCO it is one of only three top-tier wafer suppliers, so the three of them together set the supply of the industry’s most basic input. What sets GlobalWafers apart is geography: it is building leading-edge capacity in the West, anchored by a fully integrated 300mm fab in Sherman, Texas, that it describes as the only US-based advanced-silicon-wafer manufacturing (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026).
How is AI driving GlobalWafers’s business?
Through two forces at once: the AI wafer pull and the reshoring of where wafers are made. AI data centers are lifting leading-edge logic and DRAM wafer demand, and excluding ramp-up lines the company’s 12-inch utilization stayed fully loaded in Q1 2026, while its Missouri 12-inch SOI line, used in RF and silicon photonics, entered mass production (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026). At the same time, governments are paying to localize wafer supply: GlobalWafers had received about US$317.8 million of US CHIPS Act direct funding and investment credits as of Q1 2026. Chairperson and CEO Doris Hsu framed the US build-out at the Texas fab’s opening:
“There is simply not a more welcoming location in all the United States for doing business than Texas, Grayson County and Sherman. They have worked strategically to build the Silicon Prairie and GWA is thrilled to be part of it.”
— Doris Hsu, Chairperson and CEO, GlobalWafers (GlobalWafers, May 16, 2025)
What did GlobalWafers report most recently?
In Q1 2026 (the quarter ended March 31, 2026), revenue was NT$13.98 billion, down 10.3% year over year, with a 20.8% gross margin, operating income of NT$1.48 billion, and net income of NT$1.9 billion, or EPS of NT$3.97 (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026). Net income was helped by mark-to-market gains on the Siltronic shares GlobalWafers still holds after its 2022 bid for the German wafer maker collapsed. The gross-margin pressure reflects higher energy, materials, and logistics costs plus the drag of ramping several new fabs at once; excluding those lines, 12-inch utilization was full.
What is GlobalWafers’s guidance?
GlobalWafers did not give numeric guidance with its Q1 2026 results. Qualitatively, management said its upfront capacity investments should gradually translate into a more resilient earnings structure over the medium to long term, supported by a broad-based semiconductor recovery driven by AI and high-performance computing (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026).
What are the risks for GlobalWafers?
- Wafer cyclicality. Q1 2026 revenue fell 10% year over year, and the company itself calls the recovery uneven across end markets, so utilization and pricing can move against it.
- Greenfield ramp costs. Ramping Texas, Italy, Japan, and Missouri at once raises energy, materials, and logistics costs and under-loads qualifying lines, compressing gross margin until utilization catches up.
- FX and geopolitics. New Taiwan dollar strength suppresses reported revenue, heavy reliance on US CHIPS Act incentives exposes it to policy review, and the failed Siltronic bid shows the cross-border M&A risk.
Related securities, concepts & terms
GlobalWafers is the Western-capacity leg of the wafer oligopoly in the silicon supply chain concept, alongside Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO.
- Silicon Supply Chain parent
- Shin-Etsu Chemical (4063) sibling
- SUMCO (3436) sibling
- Silicon Wafer related
Frequently asked questions about GlobalWafers
What does GlobalWafers do?
GlobalWafers is the world's third-largest silicon-wafer maker, producing polished, epitaxial, and silicon-on-insulator wafers plus compound-semiconductor substrates such as SiC and GaN. Spun off from Sino-American Silicon in 2011, it rounds out the wafer oligopoly with Shin-Etsu and SUMCO (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026). It runs the only US-based advanced 300mm wafer fab, in Sherman, Texas.
What were GlobalWafers' latest results?
For Q1 2026 (quarter ended March 31, 2026), revenue was NT$13.98 billion, down 10.3% year over year, with a 20.8% gross margin, operating income of NT$1.48 billion, and net income of NT$1.9 billion (EPS NT$3.97) (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026). Net income was lifted by mark-to-market gains on its Siltronic shares, and excluding ramp-up lines 12-inch utilization stayed fully loaded.
What is GlobalWafers' Texas fab and CHIPS Act exposure?
GlobalWafers America, a fully integrated 300mm wafer fab in Sherman, Texas, held its grand opening in May 2025 and is described as the only US-based advanced-silicon-wafer manufacturing (GlobalWafers, May 16, 2025). Its US subsidiaries had received about US$317.8 million of CHIPS Act direct funding and the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit as of Q1 2026, part of a Western-capacity build-out spanning Texas, Missouri, Italy, and Japan (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026).
When does GlobalWafers report its next earnings?
GlobalWafers is expected to report Q2 2026 results in early August 2026, calendar-estimated from its usual cadence (the Q1 2026 board meeting was May 5, 2026) and not yet confirmed (GlobalWafers IR). Its fiscal year ends December 31.
Why is GlobalWafers part of the silicon supply chain concept?
Because it is the third leg of the silicon-wafer oligopoly and the main Western-capacity play. Every chip starts on a wafer, and GlobalWafers is one of only three top-tier suppliers, uniquely running an advanced 300mm fab on US soil. That makes it the wafer name most levered to reshoring and CHIPS Act incentives (GlobalWafers Q1 2026 results, May 5, 2026).
Sources & references
- GlobalWafers Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results · GlobalWafers Co., Ltd., 2026-05-05
- GlobalWafers America Grand Opening, Sherman, Texas · GlobalWafers Co., Ltd., 2025-05-16
- GlobalWafers · Investor Relations / News · GlobalWafers Co., Ltd., 2026-07-05