Taiwan Manufacturing Semiconductor Co. confirmed on Thursday (via Bloomberg) that it would build its first semiconductor manufacturing facility in Japan. The fab will produce specialty chips using mature and specialty process technologies, which is expected to improve supply of components to local clients, including automakers. This means that its fabs outside of Japan (read in Taiwan and China) will be able to allocate more capacity for various PC applications.
"After conducting due diligence, we announce our intention to build a specialty technology fab in Japan, subject to our board of directors approval," said CC Wei, chief executive officer of TSMC, at the conference call with investors and financial analysts. "We have received a strong commitment to support this project from both our customers and the Japanese government."
"This fab will utilize 20 nm to 28 nm technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication," Wei added. "Fab construction is scheduled to begin in 2022 and production is targeted to begin in late 2024, further details will be provided subject to the board approval."
TSMC is already building an R&D center in Japan and collaborates with the University of Tokyo in various areas. With good local ties, it is natural for TSMC to expand its presence in Japan with a manufacturing facility.
Right now, TSMC does not disclose planned capacity or cost of the fab. It also neither confirms nor denies any involvement of Sony and the Japanese government in the project. Late last week Nikkei reported that TSMC planned a huge specialty fab in Japan with an estimated cost of about $7 billion. The agency said that the authorities would invest as much as half of the fab cost, whereas Sony would take a minority stake. The production facility would be located near Sony's image sensor fab in Kumamoto Prefecture on land owned by the electronics giant, according to Nikkei.
