Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its soon-to-be-opened research and development (R&D) center in Hsinchu County’s Baoshan Township (寶山) would be involved in its ongoing efforts to develop a 3-nanometer (nm) process.
The company made the statement following media reports that the world’s largest contract chipmaker is planning to expand its proposed 3-nanometer production at the South Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) to the new Hsinchu facility to meet strong global demand.
The reports said that the expansion was being undertaken to compete for orders from US clients such as Apple Inc.
Photo: CNA
TSMC said that the R&D center is the first phase of its investment in Baoshan Township.
The second stage of the project would be to build a plant that would use a 2-nanometer process, but there is no fixed timetable, as the plan is still pending an environmental impact assessment, it said.
The R&D center, which is currently under construction, is scheduled to start operations later this year and the company expects to hire about 8,000 R&D specialists, TSMC said.
TSMC previously announced that its plant in Tainan is scheduled to begin 3-nanometer process production on a trial basis later this year, before commercial production is launched in the second half of next year.
TSMC adopted a 5-nanometer process, its most recent technology, for mass production in the second quarter of last year.
TSMC shares closed down 0.50 percent at NT$595 in Taipei trading yesterday. They are to trade ex-dividend from Wednesday next week.
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