The construction of a wafer fab in Japan to be run by a joint venture led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to begin today.
Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), the joint venture, said that it signed an agreement with authorities in Kikuyo-machi in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday, with company president Yuichi Horita announcing the schedule for the new plant’s construction.
The plant is expected to begin shipping products in December 2024, Horita said.
Photo: Cheng I-Hwa, Bloomberg
In November last year, TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it would spend up to US$2.12 billion in equity investment on the wafer fab to establish a TSMC-majority-owned subsidiary to provide foundry services, with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp (SSS) taking a less than 20 percent stake in the new company.
In February, Japan’s Denso Corp said it would take an at least a 10 percent stake in the joint venture.
The plant would cover 72,000m2 and feature office buildings in addition to production lines, JASM said.
The company would move its headquarters from Kumamoto City to Kikuyo-machi once construction is completed, it said.
The plant would employ 1,700 people, including about 230 TSMC employees to be sent from Taiwan and about 200 from Sony Group Corp, which owns SSS, JASM said, adding that it would recruit about 1,200 workers.
TSMC dispatched the first group of 10 technology professionals from Taiwan last month, JASM said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
RSS