GlobalWafers raised $1.43 billion for a shortage its own accounts do not show
The world's third-largest wafer maker sold $1.43 billion of stock to buy raw silicon, with orders about four times covered, weeks after Micron paid up to $500 million for ten years of Texas wafer output. The second-quarter income statement still points the other way.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
A wafer maker sells stock to buy feedstock
GlobalWafers, the world's third-largest silicon wafer maker, priced the biggest equity sale in its history on 22 September: 50 million global depositary receipts at $28.64 each, $1.43 billion in total 12. Orders ran to roughly four times the offering's value 3. The proceeds go first toward raw material purchases 1. Suppliers rarely sell stock to buy feedstock; they do it when they expect the feedstock to get scarcer and dearer, and GlobalWafers says its 12-inch lines are fully committed across every site 1.
Micron pays twice for the same silicon
The customer is already paying. In July, Micron committed up to $500 million to GlobalWafers' 300mm plant in Sherman, Texas, tied to a 10-year supply agreement, inside a $3 billion input-materials program 45. Wedbush read the deal as Micron treating raw wafers, not finished memory, as the next chokepoint, with demand climbing into the 2028-2030 window 4. Chairwoman Doris Hsu calls Sherman the sole US source of advanced 300mm wafers 4. Micron has since lifted its US investment plan above $250 billion through 2035 5.
The income statement disagrees
None of it is in the numbers yet. Second-quarter revenue fell 5% year over year to NT$15.2 billion, and gross margin dropped 5.2 points to 20.6% as depreciation from a three-year expansion landed 1. The near-doubling of EPS to NT$7.9 came from a mark-to-market gain on the company's Siltronic stake, not operations 1. The first quarter looked the same: NT$13.98 billion of revenue at a 20.8% margin 8.
Prices have already started moving
The 12-inch price path the raise rides on: $92 to $166 by 2028
- 12-inch wafer ASP
- Estimate
Data
| 12-inch wafer ASP | |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $92 |
| 2027 (estimate) | $122 |
| 2028 (estimate) | $166 |
In August, Taiwan's three biggest wafer makers lifted prices at least 10% across every commercial wafer size, the first synchronized move in more than three years, with capacity near full use 7. Talks for 2027 point higher: 15-25% on epitaxial wafers, more than 40% on polished wafers, and over 50% for some second-tier customers 6.
The 2027 asks open at 15%, 40% and 50% by wafer grade
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Epitaxial wafers | 15–25% |
| Polished wafers | 40%+ |
| Second-tier customers | 50%+ |
Not everyone pays the scarcity price
Morgan Stanley cut the stock to Equalweight at NT$750 in May 2. It closed at NT$948 on 24 September, under the Street's NT$1,039 average target and roughly 40% below its 2026 peak 12. SUMCO's president reads the same tightness differently: hikes of 5-10% fall far short of covering costs, and no greenfield expansion is coming 6.
30 September is the first test
Micron reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on 30 September, guided to about $50 billion of revenue, the next reading on the memory famine traced in these pages on 19 September 9. Two numbers decide this trade: how far GlobalWafers pushes 12-inch prices this half 1, and where 2027 contracts settle against those 40% asks 6. The famine is a forecast. The down payments are cash.
How this brief was made
01Gathered & sourced409 channels · 2,396 articles▾
Agents swept 409 channels and ingested 2,396 articles, then de-duplicated and ranked them for signal.
02Verified & cross-validated9 claims · 34 data feeds▾
Every one of 9 load-bearing claims was checked against primary sources, with 34 live data feeds reconciling the figures and charts.
- 1Dealroom, "GlobalWafers raises $1.4 billion to lock in scarce silicon supply", 25 September 2026
- 2MT Newswires via Marketscreener, "GlobalWafers Raises $1.43 Billion in GDS Offering", 23 September 2026
- 3Taiwan News, "Taiwan's GlobalWafers draws orders worth 4 times offering's value", 25 September 2026
- 4TheStreet via MSN, "Chipmaking bottleneck ahead: The silicon wafer deal nobody is watching", 14 July 2026
- 5Hindustan Times, "Micron expands US investment to massive $250B through 2035 to boost chip supply chain", 9 July 2026
- 6TrendForce News, "12-inch Wafer Price Hikes Loom for 2027 as AI Demand Tightens Supply, with LTAs Reportedly Up 15-40%+", 25 September 2026
- 7Tech Times via MSN, "Silicon wafer prices break three-year freeze: AI fills every fab and foundries are next", 24 August 2026
- 8Yahoo Finance, "GlobalWafers Co Ltd (6488.TWO) Q1 FY2026 earnings call transcript", 5 May 2026
- 9FinanceFeeds, "Micron Earnings Date Sept 30: The Extra Week in the $50bn Guide", 21 September 2026
03Reviewed & edited1 human editor▾
One editor read the draft against the evidence, tuned the framing, and signed off before it shipped.
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