The Ministry of the Interior yesterday approved a development project to expand the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), paving the way for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build an advanced 1.4-nanometer fab next year.
The project is crucial for the nation’s semiconductor industry in terms of next-generation technology and capacity, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said in a statement.
The bureau expects to hand over the land to interested semiconductor companies by the end of June next year, when the Taichung City Government completes land appropriation.
Photo courtesy of the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau via CNA
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) earlier this month told reporters that TSMC had agreed to build an advanced fab, likely using 1.4-nanometer technology, in the expanded Central Taiwan Science Park after the chipmaker suffered a setback in October in building an advanced fab in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) due to strong opposition by local residents.
The bureau said that a majority, or about 76 percent, of the 89.75 hectares to be appropriated is owned by a golf course operator, adding that the central and local governments would work together to solve issues concerning the golf course employees and compensation to members.
Government agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense, own about 13 percent of the land, the bureau said.
If the new project moves forward smoothly, it would generate NT$485.7 billion (US$15.6 billion) in annual production value and create 4,500 jobs upon completion, the bureau said.
Several companies from the semiconductor supply chain have expressed an interest in building operations there, it said.
Separately, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it would work closely with TSMC to produce its new flagship smartphone chips using 3-nanometer technology next year.
“Leading-edge technologies are very complicated and it is difficult for the company to switch [foundry] partners,” MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told reporters when asked if the smartphone chip designer is considering a second source, such as Intel Corp or Samsung Electronics Co.
MediaTek has been working with Intel to produce chips using the latter’s 16-nanometer technology, Tsai said.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased