The government is to assist Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) search for a suitable site for an advanced wafer fab, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday.
Kung’s comments come amid claims from local residents that TSMC has agreed to abandon a planned expansion project in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) asked the minister, who sites on TSMC’s board of directors, whether the government — the chipmaker’s single largest investor with a 6.38 percent stake — was aware of the Longtan project.
Photo: CNA
Kung said that the government would provide any assistance necessary to help TSMC locate an ideal place in Taichung or Kaohsiung for a wafer fab to make chips with technology more advanced than the 2-nanometer process.
The Hsinchu Science Park Bureau said that the Longtan expansion project covers a 158.59 hectare parcel for semiconductor firms to develop 2-nanometer or more sophisticated technologies.
The project is expected to create 5,900 jobs and generate NT$600 billion to NT$650 billion (US$18.6 billion to US$20.14 billion) in production value per year, it said.
The expansion is aimed at helping upgrade Taiwan’s industrial development, and several semiconductor firms had expressed their willingness to invest in the project, the bureau said.
However, the project has faced strong opposition from Longtan residents on environmental grounds. Several residents staged a protest in front of the bureau on Oct. 4, demanding a withdrawal of the plan.
A group opposed to the expansion wrote on social media that TSMC had expressed a willingness to abandon the project at a meeting with residents and Hsinchu Science Park Bureau representatives.
Kung said that he was not sure whether TSMC had yet proposed leaving the project to its board, while an official from the National Development Fund said the government would stay in contact with the chipmaker on the matter.
TSMC has yet to comment on the claims.
The semiconductor firm started mass production of the advanced 3-nanometer process in Tainan at the end of last year, and is developing the more advanced 2-nanometer process, which is slated to begin commercial production in Hsinchu in 2025, while production is also planned in Kaohsiung.
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