Somebody wants to spend $45 billion on chips in Texas, and nobody will say who. A mystery company is shopping the state for the project, and Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas, looks like a front-runner for a new Sherman Texas chip plant, according to state documents reported by the Dallas Business Journal.
Here’s what is actually confirmed, and what isn’t. Everyone is saying TSMC. TSMC has not said Sherman.
What the Sherman Texas chip plant documents say
State documents obtained by the Dallas Business Journal show an unnamed “international company” scouting Texas for a possible $45 billion investment. The plan is two advanced fabs and roughly 5,000 jobs over six years, WFAA reports.
A decision on a location could come as early as November. After that, production would be targeted to start in the fourth quarter of 2029.
A state note calls Sherman an ideal candidate, according to The Real Deal. Central Texas sites are reportedly in play too, though this North Texas chip project appears to be the preference.
So why does everybody say a TSMC Texas expansion?
Because the timing fits. On its Oct. 15 earnings call, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said the company is exploring Texas for a second U.S. fab. “We sent teams to Texas to do all the evaluation,” he said, per WFAA’s coverage of the call.
Still, the state documents do not name TSMC. Linking the two is the Dallas Business Journal’s inference, and other outlets repeated it. TSMC declined further comment and pointed back to Wei’s earnings-call remarks. If you want the bigger financial picture, we looked at how much of every dollar TSMC keeps.
That’s a lot of dots, and reporters drew the lines, not the company.
The catch: Sherman says nobody called
Sherman officials told Bisnow the city has not been contacted about a TSMC expansion. That doesn’t kill the story, since site selection often runs quietly. Even so, nobody at city hall is confirming a deal on the Sherman chip fab.
The numbers don’t line up cleanly either. Bloomberg reported earlier that TSMC was eyeing the Dallas area for up to six fabs at about $20 billion each. The state documents, by contrast, describe two fabs and $45 billion. Those could be different phases, or different projects entirely. Nobody has explained which.
Bloomberg’s source also said planning is still in the early phases.
Here’s the thing: why Sherman suits a chip fab
The city already has the neighbors. Texas Instruments started production at its first Sherman fab in December 2025, as part of up to $40 billion planned there. GlobalWafers opened a wafer plant in the city in May 2025. Bisnow counts more than $40 billion in investment lined up around town, which makes any new Sherman semiconductor plant a natural fit.
Then there’s water, the thing chip plants drink the way a Texas summer drinks sweet tea. Sherman is planning an 84-inch, 27-mile pipeline from Lake Texoma. A North Texas land broker told the Dallas Business Journal Sherman has the water capacity to feed this kind of project, per Bisnow.
For readers, 5,000 jobs over six years is the number to watch, along with whatever incentives Sherman and Texas put on the table.
What happens next for the Sherman chip fab
Watch November. That’s when the state documents say a site decision could land. Also watch Congress: Bloomberg reported that whether lawmakers renew the 35% advanced-manufacturing tax credit, set to lapse at year-end, could decide whether a Texas project goes ahead, per Quartz.
Meanwhile, chip politics are shifting fast, as Taiwan’s plan to criminalize AI chip smuggling shows. TSMC has already committed $265 billion to its Arizona campus, so a Texas project would be on top of that.
For now, Sherman is a candidate, TSMC is a suspect, and the only thing confirmed is that somebody wants to spend $45 billion in Texas.
