Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s (TSMC, 台積電) first wafer fab in Kumamoto, Japan is still set to launch commercial production in the fourth quarter of this year as planned, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said on Saturday in response to reports that mass production might begin ahead of schedule.
TSMC said the monthly production capacity of the joint venture fab, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), is expected to hit 55,000 units of 12-inch wafers, using the mature 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer processes.
JASM is owned by TSMC and its Japanese business partners Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp and Denso Corp, with the Taiwanese company holding the majority of shares.
Photo: Philip FONG, AFP
TSMC’s remarks came after a local media report said earlier in the day that because Sony is a major CMOS image sensor supplier to Apple Inc, the US consumer electronics giant had been repeatedly urging JASM to mass produce chips ahead of schedule.
The report said the fab began a trial run before the Lunar New Year holiday after it began installing equipment in October 2022. It has been rolling out about 3,000 chips per month and commercial production was expected to start ahead of schedule, the report added.
TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Japan’s Princess Kako are expected to attend the opening ceremony of the Kumamoto fab on Saturday, the report said.
Investment in the fab totaled about ￥1.1 trillion (US$7.32 billion), and the subsidies provided by the Japanese government accounted for almost half of the investment amount, it said.
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