A meeting last week between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is believed by some analysts to indicate that the chipmaker is planning to build a 2-nanometer fabrication plant in the city.
Accompanied by three TSMC vice presidents — Wang Ying-lang (王英郎) of fab operations, Arthur Chuang (莊子壽) of the facility division and Jonathan Lee (李俊賢) of corporate planning — Wei met with Lu and a team of top city officials on Friday, the city government said in a statement on Saturday.
Lu expressed that hope that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, could build plants in Taichung and help boost the city’s economic development, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
ENVIRONMENT
The statement quoted Wei as saying that Taichung’s climate and location are excellent, while its numerous schools, malls and hospitals attract talent to settle and work there, making the city a good place for the company to expand its manufacturing capacity.
Lu praised the city’s “favorable investment environment,” telling TSMC officials that since she took office three years ago, a number of companies have invested in the city, such as the second-phase expansion of the Mitsui Outlet Park at the Port of Taichung and the construction of the Lalaport shopping center operated by the Mitsui brand, as well as several offshore wind power projects, the statement said.
The central government’s “Invest in Taiwan” initiative has attracted 231 companies to Taichung, creating more than 21,000 local jobs, Lu added.
On Saturday, TSMC told the Central News Agency that the company has a wafer plant in Taichung and Wei paid a courtesy visit to the city government.
However, analysts have said that there was no precedent for the CEO to visit the local government where its production facility is located.
SPECULATION
Considering the management team members who attended the meeting, analysts have speculated that the visit had something to do with the company’s plan to expand production capacity at its 2-nanometer fab in Taichung.
After it scaled up production of its 5-nanometer chips last year, TSMC said that it would begin mass producing 3-nanometer chips in the second half of next and 2-nanometer chips in 2025.
A company source familiar with the matter said that TSMC plans to develop a plot of land in Hsinchu’s Baoshan Township (寶山), which would include a 2-nanometer fab.
However, the plot is not big enough to allow the company to expand its production facilities, so TSMC management might be seeking a new lot on which to build another factory in Taichung, the source said.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. 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 Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS