Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is studying the feasibility of a fab in Europe, the chipmaker said in response to a Taiwanese media report stating that it is planning to build a plant in Dresden, Germany.
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday that the company has chosen the German semiconductor hub of Dresden for a fab, with production slated to start in 2025.
The report said the investment in Germany would meet strong European demand for TSMC’s specialty processes and mitigate potential geopolitical barriers.
Photo: Reuters
Citing sources from within TSMC’s supply chain, the report said the proposed fab would make use of Dresden’s comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem and better serve its EU clients.
Major international semiconductor firms including Infineon Technologies AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, GlobalFoundries Inc, X-Fab Silicon Foundries SE and NXP Semiconductors NV have run fabs in Dresden, while semiconductor equipment suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, ASML Holding NV and Siltronic AG have also established production bases in the city.
TSMC is building fabs in Arizona to manufacture chips using 4-nanometer (nm) and 3nm processes, with mass production scheduled to begin next year.
Photo: Reuters
It is also building a plant in Japan that is to use the company’s 12nm, 16nm and 22nm processes, as well as 28nm specialty technology, with commercial production expected to start next year.
TSMC last week said it considers clients’ needs and available government support when choosing locations for new ventures.
It is considering building a fab in Germany to develop chips used in automotive electronics and specialty processes, TSMC said, adding that a second fab in Japan is also being discussed.
The company is assessing plans for a German plant and no decision has been made, TSMC spokeswoman Nina Kao (高孟華) said.
However, an editorial published yesterday by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) said that the EU should not get a Taiwanese semiconductor plant if the European Commission does not engage in trade talks with Taipei.
The EU seeks chip investments to safeguard its supply chain, but without help from the likes of TSMC and Intel Corp, the EU could find it difficult to secure advanced chipmaking capabilities, the editorial said.
“The EU wants Taiwan to set up chip plants, but for Taiwan there is no need to do so from a corporate perspective,” CNA wrote. “If the EU only wants chips from Taiwan but shies away from talking diplomacy, will Taiwan, with its global strategic assets, be this naive?”
Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have escalated as the US asserts its power to counter China’s influence in the region.
Taiwan’s dominant role in the global market for advanced chips is boosting its strategic position, while the country has been aggressively seeking to deepen trade and other relations with the West.
The CNA editorial also criticized an EU official for saying that the 27-member bloc did not need a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan.
European External Action Service Asia Pacific managing director Gunnar Wiegand on Wednesday last week said that stable conditions and a well-functioning legal system in Taiwan meant it was “rational” for the EU not to seek such an agreement.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
RSS