TSMC Announces Expansion of US Investment... Taiwan States "Core Production Base Is Ours"

On the 6th (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden (center), TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin (right), and CEO C.C. Wei toured the TSMC construction site of the Arizona Phoenix plant in Taiwan.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 6th (local time), when Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, announced that it would triple its planned investment scale in the United States, the Taiwanese government reassured on the 7th by stating, "TSMC's most important production base is Taiwan."

According to major foreign media, Wang Meihua, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, appeared before the legislature that day and said, "TSMC's research and development (R&D) center is in Taiwan, and the entire supply chain is here (Taiwan). Taiwan has a complete supply chain, a complete system, and a government that supports it."

Minister Wang's remarks came immediately after TSMC's announcement of expanded investment in the U.S. TSMC stated that it would increase its U.S. investment from the original $12 billion (approximately 15.8 trillion KRW) to $40 billion, aiming to generate $10 billion in annual revenue. It also confirmed plans to build an additional factory in Arizona. The first factory aims to start mass production in 2024, and the second in 2026.

In particular, TSMC decided to raise the process technology level of the Arizona factory beyond the initial plan. The first factory's process technology will be upgraded from 5 nanometers (nm; 1 nm is one billionth of a meter) to 4 nanometers, and the second factory will apply 3-nanometer process technology.

Regarding this, Minister Wang explained that TSMC's 3-nanometer process is already being applied in Taiwan, and the development and application of more advanced processes such as 2-nanometer and 1-nanometer are also taking place in Taiwan.

Taiwan's National Development Council (NDC) released a statement that day saying that Chairman Kung Ming-sin attended the equipment import ceremony held by TSMC in Arizona and remarked that there would be no issue of "de-Taiwanization" due to the construction of this factory. It was mentioned that false information is circulating within Taiwan about the semiconductor supply chain being de-Taiwanized, and that the U.S. accounts for only 4% of TSMC's annual production capacity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.