Japanese royalty also attending... All eyes on TSMC Kumamoto Plant 1 completion ceremony on the 24th

Unusual Attendance... Prime Minister Also Accompanies
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The inauguration ceremony of Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, for its Kumamoto Plant 1 in Japan, scheduled for the 24th, is expected to be attended by a nephew of the Japanese Emperor. It is very rare for a member of the royal family to attend the inauguration of an overseas company, indicating Japan's high expectations for this TSMC plant.

According to industry sources on the 19th, the inauguration ceremony (opening ceremony) of TSMC's Kumamoto Plant 1 will be attended by Taiwan representatives including Morris Chang, TSMC founder; Liu Deyin, chairman; Wei Jeze, CEO; as well as Hsieh Chang-ting, Taiwan's representative to Japan; Su Jiaquan, chairman of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association; and Kung Ming-hsin, chairman (minister-level) of the National Development Council (NDC). On the Japanese side, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Princess Kako of the Japanese Imperial Family are expected to attend.

At the inauguration, TSMC is expected to announce plans to expand investment in Japan, construct Kumamoto Plant 2, and invest in advanced 7-nanometer manufacturing processes.

A worker walks outside the new semiconductor factory of JASM (Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing), a subsidiary of Taiwan's semiconductor giant TSMC, ahead of the completion ceremony scheduled for the 24th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

TSMC's plant is the first to receive comprehensive support from the Japanese government, which has set the goal of "rebuilding the semiconductor industry." Since Japan has no state-of-the-art semiconductor plants domestically, the government established a public-private joint venture in 2021 and launched the "Semiconductor and Digital Industry Strategy Review Meeting," actively promoting semiconductor production base development policies from an economic security perspective. Notably, the Japanese government invested an unprecedented subsidy of 476 billion yen (approximately 4.23 trillion won) in TSMC's Kumamoto Plant 1 and took the lead in addressing industrial water and road maintenance issues to accelerate construction.

Thanks to this unprecedented support, TSMC is reportedly already engaged in pilot production ahead of the inauguration. Taiwanese media such as Liberty Times cited sources saying that TSMC is moving quickly to meet demand from the U.S. company Apple. The original plan to start mass production by the end of this year has been advanced. Kumamoto Plant 1 will produce 55,000 12-inch wafers per month using 12, 16, 22, and 28-nanometer processes. This means that Japan will showcase its most advanced semiconductor technology.

Additionally, TSMC plans to start construction of a 6-nanometer Plant 2 and begin mass production there in 2027. Construction of Plant 3 is also under consideration. The company aims to expand into fields such as vehicles and supercomputers. With the addition of TSMC plants to Japan's already world-class semiconductor materials and equipment production capabilities, Japan is expected to rapidly establish a world-class semiconductor industry infrastructure.

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