Texas Instruments and GlobiTech have been granted subsidies totaling nearly $3 billion from the City of Sherman and other local tax entities as incentives to set up shop in the area.
The unprecedented tax break packages granted to these semiconductor and silicon wafer manufacturers can be explained not only by the local-level dynamics at play but also by international ones.
For Sherman, it was competing with other regions for investment.
“States and cities and governments around the world that you see that are successful are making the same types of government investments into the private sector world to lure companies to their area,” explained Kent Sharp, president of Sherman Economic Development Corp., to The Dallas Morning News.
Even with the tax subsidies, a $35 billion semiconductor corridor slated to sit just south of Centurion’s planned mixed-use development could serve as an economic boon.
For instance, as previously covered in The Dallas Express, a land grab emerged among real estate developers in Grayson County. Centurion American Development Group of Farmers Branch acquired a grand total of 1,474 acres of land for mixed-use projects located in proximity to Sherman.
Yet the U.S.’s need to boost waning domestic production of semiconductors and similar technology has been at the forefront of political discussions as well. With only 12% of the world’s supply of semiconductors fabricated in the U.S. in 2022, the potential for supply issues for automobiles, washing machines, computers, weapons systems, and more is high.
As such, the CHIPS and Science Act, the largest publicly funded R&D program in the history of the U.S. to gain self-reliance by enhancing research and manufacturing of semiconductors, was passed by lawmakers last year.
This priority project received a major boost when Texas Instruments and GlobiTech signed on to build plants in Sherman.
Dallas-based Texas Instruments is erecting a four-building manufacturing campus that will employ a workforce of 3,000. The investment has totaled approximately $30 billion, with the local subsidies absolving the firm of $2.36 billion in property taxes between 2025 and 2060.
More specifically, Texas Instruments was granted subsidies by Sherman ISD for $954 million, the City of Sherman for $741 million, Grayson County for $571 million, and Grayson College for $91 million.
GlobiTech, a subsidiary of Taiwanese-based chip manufacturer GlobalWafers, is building a $5 billion semiconductor plant in Sherman that will employ approximately 1,500 workers, as previously covered in The Dallas Express. GlobiTech secured tax breaks amounting to $570 million between 2027 and 2069.
Sherman ISD delivered GlobiTech a subsidy of $221 million, the City of Sherman $193 million, Grayson County $134 million, and Grayson College $22 million.
GlobiTech is also benefiting from a $15 million economic incentive grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund.