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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS