The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday said it was working on procedures to cope with a major adjustment by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to make advanced chips — likely 2-nanometer — at a new factory in the city, rather than legacy chips.
In April, TSMC said it was considering whether to make more advanced semiconductors in Kaohsiung, other than 3-nanometer chips — the most advanced chips available now.
It said the cutting-edge semiconductors would be produced at its new factory in Nanzih Technology Industrial Park (楠梓科技產業園區), which it had originally planned to use for 28-nanometer chips.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
TSMC has said it expects its next-generation 2-nanometer technology to enter mass production in 2025 at its Hsinchu and Taichung factories.
The Kaohsiung factory would be the third capable of producing 2-nanometer chips, if the plan is confirmed.
To avoid overcapacity, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker decided not to make 28-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors in April.
TSMC is building 28-nanometer chip capacity at a new factory in Japan and adding 28-nanometer capacity to its fab in Nanjing, China, Wei said, adding that it is also considering building a third fab in Europe to make 28-nanometer chips for vehicles.
TSMC informed the Kaohsiung City Government about its change in plans early this year, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told reporters yesterday.
The city government has been closely communicating with the chipmaker to satisfy its needs, which include water and electricity consumption, Chen said.
“The city government will fully support TSMC in making those changes,” he said.
“The industrial park is adjusting related items catering to the operation of this advanced plant and preparing to review the environmental impact comparative analysis report [from TSMC],” the Kaohsiung Economic Development Bureau said in a statement. “The construction work on the new fab is ongoing.”
The bureau declined to confirm a report yesterday by the Chinese-language United Daily News, saying that TSMC planned to further upgrade the Kaohsiung fab for 2-nanometer capacity to meet demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
TSMC supplies AI chips to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) among other customers.
AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) arrived in Taipei yesterday on a four-day trip to visit the company’s local suppliers, including TSMC; hardware and component suppliers Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達); and motherboard makers Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) and Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉), a source familiar with her itinerary said, asking to remain anonymous.
Analysts said Su’s planned meetings have raised hopes that AMD, one of the world’s foremost semiconductor development companies, will forge closer ties with Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and companies in the AI server supply chain.
Her visit comes less that two months after Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) visited Taiwan and stirred up an AI frenzy.
Su is also scheduled to attend a conferral ceremony on Thursday to accept an honorary doctorate degree from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.
Additional reporting by CNA
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