Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is in talks to receive German government subsidies for as much as 50 percent of the costs to build a new semiconductor fab in the country, people familiar with the matter said.
The government is in ongoing negotiations with TSMC, as well as its partners on the project — Bosch Ltd, NXP Semiconductors NV and Infineon Technologies AG — the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
No final decisions have been made and the final subsidy amount could still change. Any state aid must also be signed off by the European Commission.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The deliberations over the Dresden plant, which could cost as much as 10 billion euros (US$10.7 billion) to build, show how competition for semiconductor manufacturing capacity has intensified. The top end of the subsidies being discussed would put German government support for the fab on par with what Japan is offering TSMC to build a factory there. It would also outpace the 40 percent maximum that most other chipmakers are getting for their plants in Europe.
The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action said in a statement that it is in a “close exchange” with TSMC “with the aim of jointly discussing prerequisites for an investment decision.”
The ministry did not comment on the subsidies beyond saying that the government could fund the project under the European Chips Act.
A spokeswoman for TSMC said that the company is evaluating the possibility of building a fab in Europe and declined to comment further.
TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) last month said that the decision would be based on demand from customers and the level of support from Beijing.
The plant would be a big win for the EU’s 43 billion euro Chips Act, which is aimed at increasing domestic output to avoid supply chain disruptions. STMicroelectronics NV, GlobalFoundries Inc, Infineon Technologies AG and Wolfspeed Inc are among the chipmakers that have announced new investments in Europe since it was first proposed last year.
“The goal is to be close to our customers,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at an industry event in Amsterdam this week.
TSMC’s board would make a final decision about going ahead with the project as soon as August, he said.
“If we do build a fab in Dresden, likely we would start at the 28-nanometer generation,” he said.
Such chips could be used for microcontrollers in vehicles and could be made smaller.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in