Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to start building a new 1.4-nanometer fab next quarter with an anticipated production value of up to NT$500 billion (US$16.49 billion), the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday.
TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is working at full steam to push forward the construction of its new factories at home, rather than taking a slower approach as some media speculated, bureau Director-General Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said.
“Everything is on schedule. TSMC plans to start construction in the fourth quarter. It is planning a detailed construction schedule and arranging contractors to build the fab,” Hsu said.
Photo: CNA
Since TSMC is to utilize more advanced process technology than the 2-nanometer technology as originally planned, the new fab is expected to generate a production value of NT$500 billion, higher than an earlier estimate of NT$485.7 billion, Hsu said.
The fab is to create about 4,500 jobs, he added.
TSMC in May said it expected to start building a new fab, called Fab 25, in Taichung, with an aim of producing advanced chips in 2028 utilizing 1.4-nanometer technology, the most advanced technology.
The chipmaker plans to start volume production of 2-nanometer chips next quarter at fabs in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, and produce 1.6-nanometer chips in the second half of next year at fabs in Kaohsiung amid robust demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
TSMC is also expected to build an advanced technology facility in Tainan’s Shalun District (沙崙), Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau Director-General Cheng Hsiu-jung (鄭秀絨) said.
The chipmaker’s capacity expansions for advanced packaging technology in the Southern Taiwan Science Park’s (南部科學園區) campus in Chiayi County’s Taibao City (太保) are at full swing, Cheng said, refuting media reports about a sudden halt.
The company is even trying to pull ahead of the construction schedule, she added.
Separately, companies based in the nation’s three major science parks are expected to generate record-high revenue of NT$5.5 trillion this year, National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said at a news conference yesterday.
That would represent annual growth of 15.5 percent from NT$4.76 trillion last year.
Wu attributed the double-digit growth to the semiconductor industry’s strong growth momentum.
During the first half of this year, semiconductor companies in the science parks have seen revenue soar 34.33 percent annually to NT$2.27 trillion, council data showed.
Semiconductor companies were the major revenue contributors, making up 83 percent of the overall revenue of NT$2.74 trillion made by companies in the science parks during the first half.
Producers of computers and related components saw revenue sink 28.58 percent year-on-year to NT$89.93 billion in the first half, as some firms allocated production overseas in a bid to address geopolitical tensions and US tariffs, the council said.
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