Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that the construction of a planned 12-inch wafer plant in Kaohsiung would start later this year.
The chipmaker’s comments came after the Kaohsiung City Government invited the company to attend a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday at the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park (楠梓科技產業園區), where the new plant is to be built.
The park would sit on the former site of a naphtha cracking plant owned by state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油).
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung City Government Economic Development Bureau
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday did not confirm whether work on the Nanzih industrial park would begin on Sunday, but said it would start this month.
The city government said in a statement that TSMC’s presence in the industrial park is expected to help the city establish a semiconductor cluster within five years, which would boost high-end semiconductor technology development and cultivate a talent pool for the industry.
The semiconductor supply chain in Kaohsiung is expected to create more than 45,000 jobs, and speed up the pace of development not only in the manufacturing sector, but also in the service and commercial sectors, it said.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker unveiled its plans for the Kaohsiung plant in November last year.
The plant is to use the advanced 7-nanometer process and the mature 28-nanometer process to produce chips, with production scheduled to begin in 2024.
Chips made using the 7-nanometer process are expected to be used in emerging technologies such as high-performance computing devices, while chips made with the 28-nanometer process would likely be destined for automotive electronic applications, analysts said.
While TSMC has not disclosed any financial terms for the new facility, analysts said it could cost NT$200 billion to NT$300 billion (US$6.67 billion to US$10 billion).
The proposed plant passed an environmental impact assessment in April. It is expected to create 1,500 jobs, with an annual production value of NT$157.6 billion.
The city government said that since Chen assumed the post of Kaohsiung mayor in August 2020 after winning a by-election, the city had as of the end of April attracted NT$498.1 billion in investments.
Other major technology companies, such as Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) and Germany-based Merck Group, have pledged to invest in Kaohsiung.
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