Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it has no concrete plans to build a second plant in Japan.
TSMC’s comments came after Cliff Hou (侯永清), the company’s senior vice president of Europe and Asia sales and corporate research, said in a recent interview with Tokyo TV’s World Business Satellite that his company would not rule out building a second plant in Kumamoto Prefecture.
TSMC has started construction of a fab in the prefecture.
Photo: Bloomberg
TSMC needs to have a good understanding of how well the first fab in Kumamoto performs before making a decision on a second facility in the prefecture, Hou said.
The company yesterday said it has no concrete plans for new investments in Japan, but added that it has not ruled out the possibility of building a second fab in the country.
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said a second fab by TSMC would be very welcome in Japan, adding that the government would do its best to attract foreign semiconductor suppliers to invest in the country.
In November last year, TSMC announced that it would spend up to US$2.12 billion to set up a majority-owned foundry services provider in Kumamoto, with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp taking a stake of up to 20 percent.
After the joint venture — Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc — was set up, TSMC broke ground on the plant in Kumamoto in April, with mass production scheduled to start by the end of 2024.
In related news, TSMC yesterday reported that sales last month rose 50 percent, despite slumping consumer electronics demand and COVID-19 disruptions in China.
The company reported revenue of NT$222.7 billion (US$7.3 billion), adding to a long streak of increasing sales that was supercharged by a spike in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is also the exclusive supplier of Apple Inc’s silicon chips for iPhones and Macs.
TSMC shares are down more than 20 percent this year after more than doubling during the pandemic.
The global economic slowdown has diminished consumer demand for many products that use TSMC chips, but the company and its customers still expect the long-term trend in electronics demand to keep going up.
TSMC has committed to spending about US$36 billion in capital expenditure this year.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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