A former Japanese economics minister visiting Taiwan yesterday said that Taiwan, Japan and the US are establishing closer trilateral cooperation in the semiconductor industry, forming what he called a "semiconductor iron triangle." Former Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, a current member of the lower house of the Japanese Diet, said he came up with the phrase "semiconductor iron triangle," because global semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has a presence in Japan and the US. TSMC has a factory in Kumamoto, Japan, and is building chip fabs in Arizona, Nishimura said. TSMC's Arizona factory is using Japan-made manufacturing devices and materials, he said. That is why the trilateral cooperation in building advanced semiconductors is heading in the right direction in strengthening global supply chains, he added. Nishimura said he hopes with collaboration in advanced chips, Taiwan, Japan and the US can work closely in areas such as 5G, self-driving vehicles and generative artificial intelligence. Nishimura first proposed his "semiconductor iron triangle" idea during a speech to overseas Taiwanese in Japan last month. During that speech on April 13, Nishimura said Taiwan, Japan and the US need to closely unite to promote semiconductor development to jointly face an "arch enemy that steals semiconductor technology for military use," referring to China. The 62-year-old Japanese politician previously served as minister of state for economic and fiscal policy, and minister of economic revitalization. He promoted bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and Japan in the semiconductor industry while heading the economy and trade office from 2022 to 2023. Other than semiconductors and high-tech, the visiting Japanese Diet member also proposed closer Taipei-Tokyo exchanges in the energy sector. Japan is set to take advantage of renewable energy and nuclear energy to make sure it has sufficient power supply in pushing for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) broke ground on its third semiconductor manufacturing fab in Arizona yesterday, US President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, featuring a visit from US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Lutnick visited TSMC's semiconductor fabrication facility in Phoenix where the company broke ground on a third fab facility, the US Department of State said in a news release issued later yesterday. In the statement, Lutnick emphasized the importance of TSMC's investments in the US, saying: "We are at TSMC Arizona to celebrate the return of American manufacturing." During the visit, TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) welcomed Lutnick and highlighted the progress made in its Arizona operation, the news release said. To support the needs of the US' leading innovators in smartphones, HPC and artificial intelligence (AI), "we recently broke ground on our third fab, which will introduce more advanced semiconductor capacity to the United States." Wei said. TSMC's major customers in the US also expressed support for the project. Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook said that as TSMC Arizona's largest customer, "we're excited for the future of American innovation and the incredible opportunities it will create." Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) also said that AI is revolutionizing every aspect of the technology stack, and Nvidia AI supercomputers are at the foundation. "We're proud to produce our technology in Arizona, bringing AI infrastructure manufacturing back to America," he said. AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said that TSMC has been a key partner of her company for many years and AMD's deep collaboration with TSMC's R&D and manufacturing teams has enabled AMD to consistently deliver leadership products. TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker, said last month that it would invest an additional US$100 billion in the US to build three new chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities and a
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) could face a penalty of US$1 billion or more to settle a US export control investigation over a chip it made that ended up inside a Huawei artificial intelligence (AI) processor, two people familiar with the matter said. The US Department of Commerce has been investigating the world's biggest contract chipmaker's work for China-based Sophgo, the sources said. The design company's TSMC-made chip matched one found in Huawei's high-end Ascend 910B AI processor, according to the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Huawei — a company at the center of China's AI chip ambitions that has been accused of sanctions busting and trade secret theft — is on a US trade list that restricts it from receiving goods made with US technology. TSMC made nearly 3 million chips in recent years that matched the design ordered by Sophgo and likely ended up with Huawei, according to Lennart Heim, a researcher at RAND's Technology and Security and Policy Center in Arlington, Virginia, who is tracking Chinese developments in AI. The US$1 billion-plus potential penalty comes from export control regulations allowing for a fine of up to twice the value of transactions that contravene the rules, the sources said. Because TSMC's chipmaking equipment includes US technology, the company's Taiwan factories are within reach of US export controls that prevent it from making chips for Huawei, or producing certain advanced chips for any customer in China without a US license. Heim said that based on the design, which is for AI applications, TSMC should not have made the chip for a company headquartered in China, especially given the risk that it could be diverted to a restricted entity like Huawei. Reuters could not determine how the White House is to proceed with TSMC or when the
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's losses today mean that the microchip manufacturing company's share value has dropped NT$312 (26.9 percent) since its all-time high of NT$1,160 on Jan. 7, representing a total loss of NT$8.1 trillion. Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence sector suffered significant losses, with key stocks Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Wistron Corp (緯創) also hitting their limit-downs at NT$210 and NT$90.9. Following Taiwan's four-day Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday, the local stock market's opening was the first trading in Taiwan since US President Donald Trump announced "reciprocal" tariffs against the US' global trading partners.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change of Taiwan's "status quo" by force or extortion and would maintain that policy. Speaking with conservative TV host Hugh Hewitt, Rubio said the US' policy is to maintain Taiwan's "status quo" and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion. "That's the policy of the United States. That remains the policy of the United States," Rubio said. "That's been the policy of President Trump, and that will continue to be his policy. And when he makes policy decisions, he means them." Rubio's comments followed a statement on Tuesday by a US Department of State spokesperson, who described China's latest drills near Taiwan the previous day as "brazen and irresponsible threats" and reiterated Washington's decades-long support for Taipei. On Monday, the Chinese People's Liberation Army deployed more than two dozen military aircraft across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and sent dozens more into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in collaboration with Chinese naval vessels, from 6am to about 9pm, according to data issued by Taiwan's military. In Rubio's interview on Tuesday, he was asked about the significance of Trump's meeting earlier this month with C.C. Wei (魏哲家), chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which the president described as a "big deal." When asked whether Trump's comment was an indication of the US' resolve to stand with Taiwan, Rubio said Washington's policy on the issue remains the same as it has always been. On March 3, during a visit by Wei to the White House, Trump announced that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion in the US. According to Wei, the investment is intended to cover the establishment of three more advanced wafer fabs, two IC assembly plants, and one research and development
US President Donald Trump yesterday said that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) is one of the "most respected" people in the business world and is fully aware that his company should make large investments in the US to avoid tariffs. The US' current tariff policies would allow the US public to see "immediate" benefits, and TSMC has pledged to invest billions in the US to avoid tariffs on its products, Trump said in an interview with conservative TV host Sharyl Attkisson on her program Full Measure. "So you have the biggest chipmaker in the world coming in with US$200 billion," Trump said. "Mr Wei, one of the most respected people in business ... he's coming in, he's spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and he'll be spending it largely in Arizona." Trump said his tariffs threats have prompted many companies to bring large amounts of money into the US to build plants, which would need contractors, subcontractors, concrete and steel suppliers, and would provide more benefits down the road as job openings increase. The investment figure cited by Trump in the interview was at odds with the amount announced earlier for the expected new investment in the US by TSMC. On March 3, during a visit to the White House by Wei, Trump said that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. Wei has said that the US$100 billion would be spent to build three new wafer fabs, two advanced IC packaging plants, and a research and development center in the state of Arizona. TSMC has already invested US$65 billion in three wafer fabs in Arizona, and the additional US$100 billion that was announced would push up the company's total investments in the US to US$165 billion. The expanded investment
The government would be open to discussion, research and collaboration with the world’s leading nuclear energy developers, and would not rule out use of new nuclear energy, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today. The issue has resurfaced in the past week after American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene on Friday said that the US could be a reliable energy source for Taiwan, including nuclear energy. As the world’s largest energy exporter, the US could provide Taiwan with liquefied natural gas and nuclear energy, Greene said, adding that the AIT is already negotiating with Taiwanese businesses and government organizations on how to better support Taiwan’s energy supply. Taiwan is highly dependent on energy imports, although domestic green energy development is expanding, Cho said. The government’s current policy prioritizes reducing carbon emissions, with the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions through the development of renewable energy sources, he said. Taiwan is also focused on transitioning aging coal-fired power plants to natural gas-fired units, he added. The government would consider the use of new nuclear energy if there were public support, safety assurances, and a viable and sustainable nuclear waste disposal method, Cho said. Taiwan is to close the No. 2 reactor of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in May in accordance with the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法), he said. It is the final reactor still in operation in the nation’s only active nuclear plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春). Some lawmakers have proposed nuclear energy amendments that could affect the regulations, although the bills are still in the early stages, Cho said. The government has a responsibility to ensure a stable and sufficient power supply in Taiwan, which in turn has a responsibility to the world in housing and developing key technologies while playing a critical role in global supply chains, he said. Minister of Economic Affairs
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would launch a campaign to hold a referendum against the abolition of the death penalty, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) told a conference in Taipei today commemorating Sun Yat-sen. The KMT's decisionmakers, its think tank and its caucus reached a consensus to start a referendum campaign aimed at opposing an end to the death penalty by organizing meetings across Taiwan to secure support from the public, Chu said. Chu did not explicitly explain why the party was making the move, but KMT lawmakers have advocated pushing referendums to counter a slew of recall motions targeting them. KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday told Chinese-language media that the party has passed many bills that "reflect popular opinion, but the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has objected every time," adding that it was time to “let the public decide.” The KMT chose the death penalty issue because it has been one of the most discussed topics recently, Lo said. The KMT has long opposed getting rid of the death penalty. Its stance was emphasized after the legislature in December last year rejected seven nominees selected by President William Lai (賴清德) to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court. The refusal to confirm Lai's nominees came after the Constitutional Court handed down a ruling on a death penalty case in September last year that the KMT denounced as effectively ending capital punishment in Taiwan. The KMT accused the court of making a "hypocritical" ruling that limits the use of the death penalty and fails to deliver justice. The KMT's 52 lawmakers and two independents ideologically aligned with the party voted against the nominees picked by Lai at the end of August. They were joined by the eight Taiwan People's Party lawmakers, giving the opposition a 62-51 majority over the DPP in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan. Chu described the issue of whether
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced chips in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today, after the company announced plans to invest another US$100 billion in US semiconductor manufacturing over the next four years. US President Donald Trump and TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) yesterday announced that TSMC would invest in three new chip fabs, two advanced packaging plants and a research and development center in the US during a meeting at the White House. By investing in the US, TSMC could avoid paying high tariffs, Trump said. TSMC is already investing US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first fab in Arizona has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second fab, which is to be using the more sophisticated 3nm, 2nm and A16 processes, is currently under construction and is expected to begin production in 2028. The third, of which TSMC has said little to date, is expected to begin production by 2030 using 2nm or more advanced processes, TSMC said in April last year. Answering questions from lawmakers this morning, Kuo said “it would be impossible” for TSMC’s 2nm and 1.6nm chips to be produced in the US next year. All overseas investments are subject to review, but approval of the TSMC deal is 99.9 percent certain, Kuo said in response to concern about whether the Department of Investment Review would find issues with the deal. The government has been working with its allies to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, and any disruption to Taiwan would affect the entire world, including China, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said. Therefore, regardless of overseas investments and industrial expansion, Taiwan must continue to be a world leader in manufacturing, Cho added. The government first heard that the deal
The majority of Taiwanese think the nation’s semiconductor industry is a “silicon shield” and that the administration of US President Donald Trump would pressure Taiwan with tariffs, according to a public opinion poll released today by the Foundation for the People. The poll covered international topics including US-Taiwan relations and Trump administration tariffs. Regarding tariffs, 85.6 percent of respondents said the Trump administration would likely pressure Taiwan with tariffs in the future, with 52.8 percent believing it is very likely and 10.7 percent saying it is unlikely or impossible. Regarding Taiwan-US trade, 40.6 percent believe trade between Taiwan and the US is fair and reciprocal, while 49 percent said it is not. Regarding Taiwan-US trade negotiations, 62.4 percent believe the US holds the upper hand, while only 24.8 percent think Taiwan has an advantage. As for ways to reduce Taiwan's trade surplus with the US, 59.5 percent suggested prioritizing military and weapons purchases, 41.6 percent favor petrochemical energy and nuclear power, 35.4 percent support agricultural product imports, 12.5 percent suggest automobiles and 11.5 percent propose computers and related components. As for whether Taiwan's semiconductor industry serves as a “silicon shield” that would prompt military intervention from the US and other Western countries if China were to attack, 62.5 percent agreed and 30.8 percent disagreed. Regarding Trump’s claim that “Taiwan stole US semiconductor business,” 88.4 percent of respondents disagreed, while only 9.5 percent agreed. Additionally, if Trump were to demand that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) transfer its most advanced 2nm manufacturing technology to the US, 84.8 percent of the public would oppose the transfer, while only 10.9 percent would support it. Regarding US-Taiwan relations over the next year, 13.4 percent said they would improve, 37.4 percent said they would remain about the same and 40 percent said they would get worse. Trump would continue to use tariffs as weapons and
Mark Liu (劉德音), former chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has founded an academic center at the University of California, Berkeley to enhance US tech competitiveness. The Technology Competitiveness and Industrial Policy Center (TCIP), founded and supported by Liu, was announced by the university in a news release on Thursday last week. “Over the past several decades, globalization has decoupled upstream research from downstream manufacturing of high-technology products. As a result, new innovations do not necessarily translate into wealth creation,” Liu said in the statement. “With the ever-increasing dependence of society on technology, this separation is eroding our nation's technology leadership, the cornerstone of economic power and security,” Liu said. “A national strategy is needed to strengthen the pipeline from research to product development and manufacturing, and to ensure end-market access,” he said. The TCIP would provide “expert, independent scholarly advice to policymakers and lawmakers on technology policy development” to ensure US leadership in areas such as tech research and development and advanced manufacturing, the release said. The new center was established under the university's College of Engineering and would convene experts in technology, economics and policy from academia, the industrial sector and non-profits, the release said. After the recent “disruption” from China's introduction of DeepSeek, it is “increasingly imperative to restore US leadership in advanced technology — including artificial intelligence — and this center will accelerate progress toward this goal,” said S. Shankar Sastry, a computer science professor at the university who would serve as the center's faculty director. Liu, who was born and raised in Taiwan and attended graduate school at UC Berkeley, served as chairman of TSMC from 2018 to last year.
Taiwan only expects a small impact from any tariffs imposed by the incoming government of US president-elect Donald Trump on semiconductor exports given their technological superiority, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Home to the world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia. However, Taiwanese policymakers have warned new US tariffs against all countries from the incoming Trump administration could curb economic growth this year for the export-dependent economy. Trump has pledged a blanket tariff of 10 percent on global imports into the US and a far higher 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. In late November last year, he specifically pledged a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico when he takes office on Jan. 20. Asked at a news conference about the impact on Taiwan's export orders of Trump's tariffs, Kuo said it would not much affect the chip sector. "For our semiconductors and advanced processes, there is an advantage of technological leadership and that cannot be replaced, and so the impact will be small," he added. Taiwan will also help companies relocate supply chains to the US as needed, away from where there might be high import tariffs, Kuo said. "Now we see that we should be able to develop the aerospace supply chain industry in the US, and do some joining up with the US aerospace companies, so that some of Taiwan's aerospace research and development centers can be moved to there." Taiwan will also set up an office in Japan in the first half of this year to help Taiwanese businesses invest there, and cooperate with the country on artificial intelligence and drones, he added.
A decades-old unexploded bomb was uncovered at a construction site in Kaohsiung this morning, and has been transferred for disposal after authorities determined it posed no danger. The bomb was discovered at the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park (楠梓科技產業園區), where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is building a fab to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips. Workers excavating the site of CPC Corp, Taiwan’s former naphtha cracking plant reported the discovery to the city government and Ministry of National Defense according to procedure, the Kaohsiung Economic Development Bureau said in a news release. The military’s 8th Field Army in a separate release said its team confirmed the presence of the decades-old 500 pound (227kg) aerial bomb, although it could not determine a lot number. It was severely rusted and missing a fuse, the field army said, adding that it posed no danger. The unexploded ordnance has been transferred to a storage facility and would be disposed of according to procedure, it added. Work on the site has resumed, the department said, vowing to continue keeping watch for potentially dangerous materials. Workers in August discovered the remains of a 1,000 pound aerial bomb in the western portion of the site, which authorities also determined to pose no risk before disposing of the ordnance.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) today said it has no plans for new foreign investments, following a report that the chipmaker was looking to team up with Samsung for a project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Wall Street Journal yesterday cited anonymous sources familiar with the interactions as saying that the chipmakers have discussed projects in the UAE in the coming years that could be worth more than US$100 billion. Top executives at TSMC have visited the UAE recently and talked about a plant complex on par with some of the company’s largest and most advanced facilities in Taiwan, the paper said. "We are always open to constructive discussion on ways to promote development of the semiconductor industry, but we remain focused on our current global expansion projects and have no new investment plans to disclose at this time," TSMC said in a statement, without elaborating. Samsung declined to comment on the report. Senior figures at Samsung Electronics visited UAE recently and discussed the idea, the paper said, adding that the discussions were still in the early phases and may face technical and other hurdles. Under initial terms being discussed, the projects would be funded by the UAE, with a central role for Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala, it said. The paper added that the broader goal would be to increase global chip production and help bring prices down without hurting chipmakers' profitability. TSMC is currently building plants in Arizona in the US, Japan’s Kumamoto and Germany’s Dresden. The Arizona plant plans to begin production of 4nm chips in the first half of next year. The first fab in Kumamoto is to begin production of 12nm, 16nm, 22nm and 28nm chips in the fourth quarter, while the Dresden plant is scheduled to begin production by 2027. The firm’s most advanced processes are still based in Taiwan.
Former US president Donald Trump "has a lot on his plate" and misunderstands Taiwan's role in the semiconductor industry, possibly because others have misinformed him, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Trump, the Republic nominee in November's presidential election, unnerved Taiwan by saying in July that "Taiwan should pay us for defense," and that it had taken US semiconductor business. His remarks pummelled shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple and Nvidia. Speaking to reporters in Taipei ahead of this week's Semicon Taiwan exhibition, set to be attended by top executives from TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix, Kuo rejected Trump's remarks. "Taiwan did not steal the US chip industry," said Kuo, previously a senior executive of a TSMC supplier, Topco Scientific. Taiwan helps complement the US chip industry in manufacturing, and makes chips as commissioned by US industry, he added. "This is a misunderstanding on Trump's part. The president has a lot on his plate; maybe a friend or a competitor in Taiwan told him that," Kuo said. TSMC is spending billions building new factories overseas, including US$65 billion on three plants in the US state of Arizona, although it says most manufacturing would stay in Taiwan.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to build two advanced packaging plants at the Chiayi Science Park, with construction expected to begin in May, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said on Monday. The two new facilities are to be dedicated to TSMC’s chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology, Cheng said at a cross-ministerial meeting held at Chiayi County Hall. The plan makes the company’s overall deployment more competitive, and is an important investment that can combine the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Cheng said. TSMC in October last year announced plans to double CoWoS packaging capacity by the end of this year to meet surging demand for AI chips. The Chiayi County Government said that construction on the two new facilities covering 12 hectares of land in the science park is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026 and begin mass production by 2028, bringing 3,000 new jobs.
LOCAL INDUSTRY SAFE: Despite global expansion plans, 90% of Taiwanese IC suppliers’ production would stay in Taiwan, the National Development Council minister said
Taiwan’s semiconductor firms are expected to invest US$210 billion over the next five years to cement the country’s lead over its peers in the global IC market, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said on Friday. Digital transformation in the high-tech sector had become an irreversible international trend, Kung told an investment forum on business start-ups. The government would continue to encourage the local semiconductor industry to invest by providing incentives under the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例), Kung said. Taiwanese semiconductor firms are expected to move their investments out of the China due to a restructuring of global supply chains amid escalating trade frictions between the US and China, he said. “It is estimated that the local semiconductor industry will invest US$210 billion globally over the next five years to lay a good foundation for future development,” he said. Citing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音), Kung said the global semiconductor industry would experience a golden era over the next one to two decades. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is investing US$40 billion to build two advanced wafer fabs in Arizona: One is expected to start commercial production in 2025 and the other in 2026. TSMC is also spending ￥37.8 billion (US$252.9 million) to build a fab in Kumamoto, Japan, through a joint venture. It is scheduled to begin production next year. The company’s board has also approved a plan to form a joint venture to set up a wafer fab in Dresden, Germany. TSMC has said it plans to invest up to 3.499 billion euros (US$3.8 billion) for a 70 percent stake in the new company, with mass production scheduled to start at the end of 2027. TSMC’s global expansion has prompted its suppliers to follow suit, including Marketech International Corp (帆宣), a facility monitor control system provider, which said it already
The government is looking at providing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) with preferential rates for power and water usage, as well as a plot of land, from as early as next June, should it consider building its 1.4-nanometer fab in the Central Taiwan Science Park’s (中部科學園區) Taichung Park (台中園區), a source said yesterday. TSMC on Oct. 17 said it had dropped its plan to build a fab for the production of next-generation chips in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) amid protests by residents over the government’s appropriation of privately owned land for industrial use. The Executive Yuan recently convened a meeting to discuss the issue, with Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) being briefed by the National Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Longtan section of the park was expected to expropriate 158.59 hectares so that semiconductor-related companies would have enough space to set up there, the source said. Despite TSMC’s announcement that it was backing out of the Longtan plan, the section would still be dedicated to semiconductors, the source said, adding that the Executive Yuan has given the council, the Hsinchu Science Park Administration and the Taoyuan City Government the task of organizing talks with the Longtan protesters and providing them with a satisfactory solution. If neither side can reach an amicable agreement, the Executive Yuan is considering the possibility of shrinking the area of land to be expropriated to exclude those who are the most opposed to the project, they said. TSMC was initially eyeing the Longtan section and the Taichung Park, hoping to have fabs in both, the source said. The discrepancy in the amount of land allotted to the two projects — TSMC had planned to use 158.59 hectares at Longtan and 90 hectares at
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to build a 12-inch wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, to make automotive chips in partnership with major customers, the world’s largest chipmaker said yesterday. The joint venture, European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (ESMC) GmbH, is to be 70 percent owned by TSMC, while customers Robert Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG and NXP Semiconductors NV would each hold 10 percent, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement. Total investment is expected to exceed 10 billion euros (US$10.94 billion), consisting of equity injection, borrowing, and support from the EU and German government, TSMC said. The creation of ESMC marks a significant step toward construction of a 12-inch fab to support demand from the fast-growing automotive and industrial sectors, the statement said. The final investment decision would depend on the confirmation of the level of public funding for the project, it added. The project is being planned under the framework of the European Chips Act. “This investment in Dresden demonstrates TSMC’s commitment to serving our customers’ strategic capacity and technology needs, and we are excited at this opportunity to deepen our long-standing partnership with Bosch, Infineon, and NXP,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said in the statement. “Europe is a highly promising place for semiconductor innovation, particularly in the automotive and industrial fields, and we look forward to bringing those innovations to life on our advanced silicon technology with the talent in Europe,” he added. The planned fab is expected to have a monthly production capacity of 40,000 12-inch wafers deploying TSMC’s 28-nanometer and 22-nanometer process technologies. It is expected to create about 2,000 direct high-tech professional jobs, the chipmaker said. ESMC aims to begin construction of the fab in the second half of next year, with production expected to commence at the end of 2027, it said. TSMC in January forecast that in about five
Greenpeace Taiwan on Monday urged neighborhoods to allow Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to generate solar power on their rooftops in a bid to help the company transition to renewable energy. Twenty-five borough wardens near the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) have already signed the pledge, offering more than 900 hectares of rooftop, Greenpeace said. The figure is equivalent to 455 Taipei Arenas and could potentially generate 1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year, it added. In a May survey of residents in Taichung, Tainan, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, 61 percent said that Taiwan’s energy transition would go faster with semiconductor firms taking the lead, Greenpeace said. Another 46 percent said they would be willing to install solar panels on their buildings and sell the excess electricity to TSMC and other semiconductor firms, it said. Currently, owners of rooftop solar panels can get nearly NT$5 per kWh of electricity sold back to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association managing chairman Chen Kun-hung (陳坤宏) said, adding that the price is generally high since each roof needs a customized install and cannot accommodate many panels. The biggest obstacle to net metering at the moment is administrative procedure, which was drafted for large solar farms, Chen said. Although each rooftop could only produce about 1 percent of a solar farm’s total output, each household must apply individually, he said. As a first step, Chen suggested that local governments adopt a “regulatory sandbox” framework to allow boroughs and residents to apply jointly, with TSMC as the purchaser.
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