Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to invest NT$90 billion (US$2.9 billion) to expand its advanced chip packaging capacity in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) to cope with customer demand, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said yesterday.
The Hsinchu Science Park Bureau has approved its application to lease land at the Tongluo Science Park, a branch campus of the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), for the plant’s construction, the chipmaker said in a statement.
TSMC did not elaborate on the project, including the time frame for its operation, saying only that the investment would create 1,500 job opportunities.
Photo: Reuters
The new investment comes as the chipmaker is having difficulty supplying advanced packaging capacity, especially 3D packaging technology and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology, thanks to robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
With its leading-edge process technologies, TSMC makes the AI GPU H100 for Nvidia Corp and MI300 GPU for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
“We cannot fulfill 100 percent of customers’ needs,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C.Wei (魏哲家) told investors on Thursday last week. “We are increasing capacity as quickly as possible.”
The chipmaker plans to double its CoWoS capacity, Wei added, expecting the supply crunch to ease up at the end of next year.
TSMC has said it plans to allocate a small fraction of its capital expenditure budget of US$32 billion to US$36 billion this year to packaging.
A big chunk of the budget would go into the development of leading-edge technologies, including 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer processes, it said.
In addition to pure wafer foundry operations, TSMC operates five advanced chip packaging plants in Taiwan: at Hsinchu Science Park, Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南), Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) in Tainan.
Separately, TSMC said it is taking routine precautionary measures at all its fabs across the nation as Typhoon Doksuri approached Taiwan.
These include “24-hour on-duty personnel and emergency response teams, including water, electricity, mechanical and disaster recovery experts,” the chipmaker said in an e-mailed response to inquiries.
Other measures include inspections of drainage systems and waterproof gates; carrying out pump inventory testing; and minimizing use of temporary installations exposed to strong winds, TSMC said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS