Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it is planning to build a research and development (R&D) center in Hsinchu.
The R&D center is to be built in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) over nearly 30 hectares, with an opening date set for 2021, the company said.
Construction would start at the end of next year near its headquarters, which also houses an R&D center, it added.
TSMC did not give any estimates on the cost of the project, but a local media report said that the investment would total about NT$100 billion (US$3.42 billion).
The application to establish the center was submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology more than a year ago and it was recently approved, TSMC said, adding that the next step is an environmental impact assessment.
The company did not disclose the main area of concentration for the center, but there is speculation in the local semiconductor industry that the focus would be on the advanced 3-nanometer process.
TSMC’s most advanced technology in commercial production at present is the 10nm process, but it is working on putting 7nm, 5nm and 3nm processes into production.
The company last year said it would in 2020 begin construction of a 3nm foundry in Tainan with the aim of starting mass production by 2022.
TSMC last month broke ground on project to build a 5nm plant, also in Tainan.
Meanwhile, small-scale shipments of 7nm-process chips would begin in the second quarter of the year, the company said, adding that production is expected to increase sharply in the second half.
TSMC now holds more than half of the global contract chip production market and is expected to invest more than NT$1 trillion in high-end technology development over the next few years in a bid to maintain its market dominance, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said.
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