Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem.
TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said.
The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said.
Photo: CNA
It would be Taiwan’s first cluster featuring high-tech facility construction companies, it said.
“As Taiwan’s land and infrastructure resources are reaching their limits, it is important to think about how to prevent Taiwan’s industry from making a hard landing, as it is vital to Taiwan’s economy,” TSMC vice president for facility construction Arthur Chuang (莊子壽) said at a forum in Taipei.
“It is very important for Taiwanese companies to think about how to participate in the global supply chain,” Chuang said. “To serve that purpose, they have to enhance their global competitiveness.”
TSMC plans to install testing labs at the center, at which its partners could validate their products based on international standards, it said.
The company would encourage its partners to deploy teams to the center, which would be part of a semiconductor industry supply chain zone, it said.
The center in Pingtung Science Park in Pingtung City is expected to start operations in the second quarter of 2027, when public utilities are completed at the site, Chuang said.
Yesterday’s forum was organized by the Taiwan High-Tech Facility Association, which reported that its member companies increased to 166 last month from 70 in 2021.
United Integrated Services Co (UIS, 漢唐), which helps TSMC and other electronics companies build manufacturing facilities and install clean rooms, and Marketech International Corp (帆宣), a facility monitor control system provider, are two of the major members of the association.
“As this is a one-stop service center, it will help manufactures to shrink the time to commercialize products and increase the chance for the products to be donated for their factories,” UIS president Lai Chih-ming (賴志明) said.
Asked what differences and challenges arise in building factories for TSMC in Taiwan, the US and Japan, Lai said the company has underestimated the challenges in the US and overestimated its abilities to handle them.
“It is not appropriate to apply the approaches we adopt in Taiwan for the US. The mindsets are totally different,” Lai said.
US contractors and field workers use a systematic methodology, which UIS highly appreciated, Lai said.
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