Changhua County yesterday invited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build an advanced fab on its land after the chipmaker this week ditched plans to construct a plant in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭).
Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) on Facebook touted the benefits of the county’s planned Erlin precision machinery park, saying it could become the “first choice” for a TSMC wafer fab.
“Erlin precision machinery park has about 300 hectares, which is enough for the 159 hectares required by TSMC,” Wang wrote.
Photo courtesy of the Changhua County Government
“Moreover, Taiwan Sugar Corp [Taisugar, 台糖] is the largest landowner in the park, so it is easy to deal with the land issue,” she said.
Taisugar is a state-run enterprise supervised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
TSMC on Tuesday said it had abandoned plans to build an advanced fab in the phase 3 expansion project in the Longtan section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) amid strong opposition from local residents, who complained that the project would expropriate nearly 90 percent of the land from private owners, affecting more than 100 households who have lived there for generations.
In addition, “Changhua has the greatest green energy capacity among all of the nation’s administrative regions,” which could best respond to TSMC’s growing demand for renewable energy, Wang said.
The park in Erlin Township (二林) can begin development after it passes an environmental impact assessment review, she said.
Wang’s remarks came after officials and lawmakers representing Chiayi County, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County expressed their intentions to make land available for TSMC.
Chiayi County Commissioner Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁) yesterday reiterated his offer to TSMC, saying that the county would form a special task force to assist the chipmaker if it considers Chiayi County a potential site for a plant.
Taisugar has a lot of land in Chiayi County, so land expropriation would not be a big problem, Weng said.
With a plant in Chiayi County, TSMC would be able to link up with its investments at the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) in Tainan’s Sinshih District (新市) to form a technology corridor, he said.
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