Thanks to cooperation and investment among the parent company in Taiwan, local corporate officials and local governments, SAS/GlobiTech is realizing the dream of GlobiTech’s founder. Tuesday, representatives of all those groups gathered to celebrate the grand opening of GlobiTech’s Fab 2 (fabrication plant No. 2), making it the world’s largest wafer manufacturer.

Fab 1 is at capacity, GlobiTech Controller Terry Kluesner said in an interview last week, “”We’ve basically doubled our capacity this year. That’s why we’ve built Fab 2.”” And with completion of the second fabrication facility at the plant, GlobiTech General Manager Mark England said Tuesday, founder Jerry Smith’s dream and vision will come true.

SAS/GlobiTech President Doris Hsu said the company’s dreams for the future are to continue growing as not just the biggest, but the best wafer manufacturer in the world. SAS has wafer plants in several countries including China, Japan and the United States, among others. They produce three kinds of wafers: Silicon, solar and sapphire.

England welcomed all who came from both sides of the Pacific.

“”Today is an exciting day … each person here has played a key role in the success of GlobiTech,”” England said. “”This celebration is a culmination of the dream of our late, beloved founder Jerry Smith. It was his vision that the facility would be the largest wafer manufacturer in the world, supporting the largest of the semi-conductor companies. Jerry’s vision and dream were set into motion in December 1998 with angel investments from Don Brooks and Andrew Call. That dream was solidified in April 2008 with our purchase by SAS group, led by their Chairman M.K. Lu, Vice Chairman Tom Yau and President Doris Hsu.

“”With everyone in this room’s continued support, it is only a matter of time until we will complete the full build-out of this second fab that we’re celebrating today, and realize that dream of becoming the largest in the world. In this we have an investment of $34 million and added approximately 30 employees. We’re up to, I believe, the 135-136 range, with the full build-out of Fab 2 we should be in the 175-200 range.

Lu joked with those who attended the celebration that he was glad they had the opportunity to learn Chinese English. He said that SAS and GlobiTech have had a great economic year, despite problems in the world economy. Even with the investment of $34 million, the company still made a profit. “”We will continue to add to our investment,”” Lu said. He thanked all those present for their contribution to that success.

Among those participating in the celebration Tuesday were officials with Sherman Economic Development Corp., the city of Sherman, Grayson County Commissioners Court and U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall’s office. And most of board members of GlobiTech’s parent company, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., were present for the festivities that included a ceremonial ribbon cutting, speeches, tours of the plant and a buffet.

All of the government entities present, plus Grayson County College, have contributed to GlobiTech’s success through economic development grants, tax abatements and securing loan guarantees.

GlobiTech first built its plant, which contained the structures to house both Fab 1 and Fab 2, in 2000, but Fab 2 remained a shell. U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall and his local office were instrumental in helping launch GlobiTech in 1998 by working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to secure a guarantee from that agency for 50 percent of a $25 million loan. Because Congress is still in session, Hall’s longtime District Assistant Judy Rowton delivered a letter of congratulations from the congressman.

“”We have a long and wonderful history with GlobiTech, starting with the groundbreaking, we have been here,”” Rowton said.

In the letter, Hall explained the importance of changes made to the plant in 2010. GlobiTech brought Fab 1 to full capacity which included adding 12 reactors, bringing the total to about 23 reactors. Phase 1 of Fab 2, the current project, will build six more reactors, Hall wrote.

Last week, Kluesner explained the process GlobiTech uses called epitaxial deposition.

“”We take a wafer, it’s put in a tool, called a reactor, not a nuclear reactor,”” Kluesner said. “”It’s heated, to a very high temperature, and then gas and chemicals are pumped into the chamber and a chemical reaction takes place — that’s why it’s called a reactor. Individual atoms of silicon attach to the wafer and that becomes an epitaxial layer or an epi-layer. That layer might be 5 microns thick … To give you a perspective, a hair is 100 microns thick. So it’s very thin. That makes the wafer much better quality for the device manufacturers who are our customers.””

Hall’s letter commented on the importance of SAS/GlobiTech’s negotiating with local governments to secure funding and incentives for the project. He said SAS’ acquisition has provided strong support for GlobiTech throughout troubled economic times. And he congratulated SAS/GlobiTech for their creation of jobs.

Grayson County Judge Drue Bynum commented on his own history with GlobiTech as a Texas Instruments’ employee. Some of GlobiTech’s founders were Texas Instruments workers, “”a couple of creative entrepreneurial folks got to gether and said, “”You know what we’re going to do? TI was changing directions at the time and they decided to create GlobiTech. … Fast forward to 2010 and look at where you are today. It’s attributable to each of you in the room today.””

Bynum thanked the SAS dignitaries and pledged the county’s support in the future.

England introduced Juston Dobbs, a member of the SEDCO Board of Directors, and thanked the organization, “”that was instrumental in orchestrating the total package that brought GlobiTech to Sherman, and is significantly responsible for our continued expansions, and I might add will be absolutely critical to our future expansions in an extremely competitive environment.””

England said SEDCO donated the 25 acres on which the original building was constructed and $2 million in cash incentives for capital investment. “”Since that time, GlobiTech has implemented three additional agreements for incentives including the most recent ones.””

SEDCO granted GlobiTech 3 percent on its $15 million investment in Fab 1 and 5 percent on its $19 million investment in Fab 2. The three governments — city of Sherman, Grayson County and Grayson County College granted tax abatements on the new value added to the tax roll in declining amounts spread over a six-year period.

Dobbs expressed the SEDCO board’s excitement over what was happening at GlobiTech Tuesday. He said, in Business 101 terms, the events were taking care of existing relationships. Some cities lure in businesses with big incentive packages and then forget about them.

“”Since 1999 when GlobiTech celebrated its groundbreaking, since then SEDCO has approved four different incentive packages to help GlobiTech continue to grow. In return, GlobiTech has helped SEDCO and city of Sherman with several projects the most important of which is the zone change in Blalock Industrial Park.””

England praised the city of Sherman for being so generous throughout GlobiTech’s history. “”Many of our employees, including myself, have been residents of Sherman our entire lives.””

Steele announced that GlobiTech has been an important industry in Sherman, investing more than $60 million and being a significant water customer to the city.

“”We are excited that GlobiTech continues to expand and create jobs in the city,”” Steele said. “”And the new $34 million investment will bring the total investment to nearly $100 million.””

He said the incentives and tax abatement will reduce GlobiTech’s operating expenses and still add value to the property tax rolls.

Hsu explained that SAS is a 29 yea old business that this year had $743 million in revenue. From 1998 to this year it had grown to 40 times its size.