Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) today said it has no plans for new foreign investments, following a report that the chipmaker was looking to team up with Samsung for a project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Wall Street Journal yesterday cited anonymous sources familiar with the interactions as saying that the chipmakers have discussed projects in the UAE in the coming years that could be worth more than US$100 billion.
Top executives at TSMC have visited the UAE recently and talked about a plant complex on par with some of the company’s largest and most advanced facilities in Taiwan, the paper said.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
"We are always open to constructive discussion on ways to promote development of the semiconductor industry, but we remain focused on our current global expansion projects and have no new investment plans to disclose at this time," TSMC said in a statement, without elaborating.
Samsung declined to comment on the report.
Senior figures at Samsung Electronics visited UAE recently and discussed the idea, the paper said, adding that the discussions were still in the early phases and may face technical and other hurdles.
Under initial terms being discussed, the projects would be funded by the UAE, with a central role for Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala, it said.
The paper added that the broader goal would be to increase global chip production and help bring prices down without hurting chipmakers' profitability.
TSMC is currently building plants in Arizona in the US, Japan’s Kumamoto and Germany’s Dresden.
The Arizona plant plans to begin production of 4nm chips in the first half of next year.
The first fab in Kumamoto is to begin production of 12nm, 16nm, 22nm and 28nm chips in the fourth quarter, while the Dresden plant is scheduled to begin production by 2027.
The firm’s most advanced processes are still based in Taiwan.
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