Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, received NT$47.55 billion (US$1.51 billion) in subsidies from China and Japan last year for investing in those countries, company data showed.
The subsidies were sharply higher than in 2022, when they totaled about NT$7.5 billion, reflecting that many countries covet TSMC’s technology and are eager to attract the firm.
The subsidies last year were handed out to support the expansion or building of new facilities in Nanjing, China, and Kumamoto, Japan. They were also used to finance land and equipment purchases, and to fund day-to-day operations.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
TSMC opened a plant in Kumamoto on Feb. 24 through its joint venture Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM). The firm is planning to build a second fab in Kumamoto, with construction slated to begin at the end of next year and mass production scheduled to begin at the end of 2027.
The firm is to invest more than US$20 billion in the projects in Japan, TSMC said, adding that it has received strong support from the Japanese government.
On Feb. 24, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito said that the Japanese government would grant ￥732 billion (US$4.98 billion) to JASM to build the second fab in Kumamoto.
Along with a subsidy of ￥476 billion for the first fab in Kumamoto, the Japanese government’s total grants to TSMC would top ￥1.2 trillion.
Elsewhere, TSMC is investing US$40 billion to build two advanced wafer plants in Arizona.
A report from Bloomberg on Friday cited sources as saying that TSMC is set to secure more than US$5 billion in federal grants to support its investments in Arizona, much lower than the subsidies planned by Japan.
The report said the grants have not been finalized, and it was still unclear whether the Taiwanese chipmaker would tap into the loans and guarantees on offer from the CHIPS and Science Act that US President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022.
TSMC did not comment on the report.
Several chipmakers, including TSMC, Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics Co and Micron Technology Inc, are in discussions with the US government for about US$28 billion in subsidies for sophisticated facility investments through the CHIPS Act, Bloomberg reported.
US officials were aiming to announce grants to major chipmakers by the end of this month, the report said.
The US government has so far unveiled three grants to companies that roll out older generation semiconductors.
TSMC is also planning to build a wafer fab in Germany. Recent reports said TSMC could receive up to 5 billion euros (US$5.47 billion) in grants from the German government for the new plant, almost half of the total investment.
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