Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), its majority-owned subsidiary in Kumamoto Prefecture, plans to build a second wafer fab to meet growing customer demand, broadening its offerings to include advanced 6-nanometer and 7-nanometer chips.
Moreover, JASM is to add a new shareholder, Toyota Motor Corp, which is to take a minority stake of 2 percent, joining Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp (SSS) and DENSO Corp, a joint statement said.
“In response to rising customer demand, JASM plans to commence construction of its second fab by the end of 2024. The increased production scale is also expected to improve overall cost structure and supply chain efficiency for JASM,” the statement said.
Photo: Bloomberg
JASM’s new factory is scheduled to start operations by the end of the 2027, three years after the opening of its first fab, the statement said.
Together with JASM’s first fab, overall investment in JASM would exceed US$20 billion, with strong support from the Japanese government, it said.
TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, last month said that JASM’s first fab is on track to start volume production in the fourth quarter of this year, focusing on less-advanced chips from 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer to 28-nanometer chips.
With both fabs, JASM’s Kumamoto site is expected to offer a total production capacity of more than 100,000 12-inch equivalent wafers per month — from 40-nanometer to 6-nanometer and 7 nanometer process technologies — for automotive, industrial, consumer and high-performance-computing-related applications, the statement said.
The capacity plan might be further adjusted depending on customer demand, it said.
With both fabs, the Kumamoto site is expected to directly create more than 3,400 high-tech jobs.
TSMC holds a 86.5 percent stake in JASM, while SSS and DENSO own minority stakes of 6 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.
In a separate statement, TSMC’s board of directors yesterday approved the capital injection of not more than US$5.26 billion into JASM and not more than US$5 billion into TSMC Arizona, a wholly owned subsidiary.
In addition, the board approved the capital injection of not more than US$3 billion into TSMC Global Ltd to reduce its foreign exchange hedging costs.
The board gave the go-ahead to the capital appropriations of approximately US$9.42 billion primarily for the installation of advanced technology capacity, advanced packaging, mature or specialty technology capacity, as well as fab construction and installation of fab facility systems.
It also approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$3.50 per share for the fourth quarter of last year, as well as the distribution of employee performance bonuses and profit sharing totaling approximately NT$100.18 billion (US$3.19 billion) for last year.
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