Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions.
TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant.
“Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the semiconductor needs of the rapidly growing European automotive and industrial sectors,” Wei said. “With this state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, we will bring TSMC’s advanced manufacturing capabilities within reach of our European customers and partners, which will stimulate economic development within the region and drive technological advancements across Europe.”
Photo: Bloomberg
When fully operational, the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co plant is expected to have a monthly production capacity of 40,000 12-inch wafers deploying TSMC’s 28-nanometer and 22-nanometer planar CMOS and 16-nanometer and 12-nanometer process technology, further strengthening Europe’s chip manufacturing ecosystem with advanced transistor technology, the chipmaker said in a statement.
The new facility is expected to generate about 2,000 direct high-tech professional jobs.
Each direct job created by the project is expected to stimulate the creation of numerous indirect jobs throughout the EU supply chain, bolstering the region’s economy, TSMC said.
The fab is scheduled to ramp up production by the end of 2027.
“We are dependent on semiconductors for our sustainable future technologies, but we must not be dependent on other regions of the world for the supply of semiconductors,” Scholz said.
About half of the funding for the 10 billion euros (US$11.1 billion) plant would be covered by state subsidies.
Germany is leading the EU push to produce one-fifth of the world’s semiconductors by 2030, with the EU seeking to build up capacity following COVID-19-pandemic era disruptions and as the relationship between Washington and Beijing deteriorates.
The US, Japan and others are also showering subsidies on the chip industry to localize production of the components that control everything from cutting-edge artificial intelligence to everyday gadgets.
TSMC is the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, with Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp relying on it for their most important products.
The EU approved Germany’s 5 billion euros subsidy for the Dresden fab, Von der Leyen said.
The new site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for importing vital technology and comes after German automakers, including Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG, expressed interest in boosting domestic chip production.
Semiconductor production became a top priority for governments around the world when COVID-19 lockdowns exposed how vulnerable economies are to supply chain disruptions. Chip shortages shut down auto factories around the world and took years to iron out.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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