Japanese authorities have proposed that Sony Group and TSMC invest $9.2 billion in a fab that will produce chips using a 20nm process technology, reports Reuters citing a report by Nikkan Kogyo newspaper.
Just 15 years ago, Japanese companies like Panasonic and Renesas had leading-edge process technologies that could challenge those from Intel. Today, Japanese developers outsource chip production to companies like TSMC and UMC, and there are no advanced fabs in the country. The Japanese government understands the importance of domestic production, so recently, it proposed that Sony and TSMC build a semiconductor facility in the country.
Japan's most advanced chip production facility belongs to Renesas and produces semiconductors using the company's 40 nm fabrication process. In contrast, companies like Panasonic and Fujitsu outsource production to TSMC and UMC. The new plant is expected to be built adjacent to Sony's semiconductor plant in southwest Japan that mostly produces CMOS sensors.
TSMC built fabs in collaboration with its partners in the past, but this hasn't happened recently. To that end, whether the company might be interested in building a fab with Sony remains to be seen.
Neither Sony nor TSMC commented on the story, but this is not the first report about Japan's authorities' fab efforts in recent months.
Earlier this year, TSMC announced plans to build a $171 million R&D center 50 km northeast of Tokyo, which incited rumors about the foundry's possible plan to build a fab in Japan, too, according to Nikkei. Unlike Europe, Japan develops loads of chips domestically, so there is some rationale for TSMC to build a fab there.
