Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to move in the first piece of manufacturing equipment for its first 2-nanometer fab in April, paving the way for the world’s biggest contract chipmaker to start producing 2-nanometer chips in 2025, Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) Bureau director-general Wayne Wang (王永壯) yesterday said.
TSMC’s 2-nanometer fab is in Hsinchu County’s Baoshan Township (寶山), where the science park administration is working on a second-phase development program, after it completes its first-phase program, where it houses TSMC’s new research and development center, Wang said during a ceremony celebrating the science park’s 43rd anniversary.
The infrastructure construction is proceeding smoothly, he said.
Photo: Reuters, Ann Wang
TSMC’s new 2-nanometer fab construction progress, as Wang described it, indicates that TSMC might be on track to start engineering a pilot run for its 2-nanometer technology next year, before entering a production pilot run and volume production in 2025. The chipmaker said in May that it planned to start building a second 2-nanometer fab next year in Taichung.
However, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) told reporters earlier this week that TSMC could change its mind and consider building a more advanced 1.4-nanometer fab in Taichung, as the chipmaker suffered a setback in securing land to build a 1.4-nanometer fab in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park, amid local protests over government appropriation of privately owned land for industrial use.
TSMC did not comment on whether it has altered its new fab construction plan in Taichung.
Photo: CNA
Separately, Wang told reporters that the production value of manufacturers in Hsinchu Science Park is set to recover to its peak level starting from next year, following a tough period this year when an economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions cut production value by 19 percent annually in the first half of this year to NT$668.4 billion (US$21.38 billion).
As demand returns, the decline has shrunk to about 10 percent, Wang said. He expects the recovery to extend into 2025, fueling explosive growth in production value to a new record high from companies in the park.
Additionally, the science park bureau said that the third building of the biological technology district within the science park would be completed in the second quarter of next year. It cost more than NT$3 billion, it said.
In addition, the first building of the “X” base is to be completed in the near future, Wang said.
The “X” base is designed to be a hub for the development of emerging technologies such as precision healthcare and generative artificial intelligence.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS