The construction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) new wafer plant in Kaohsiung is to begin next month, the Kaohsiung City government said on Saturday.
The plan for the factory passed an environmental impact assessment in the middle of last month.
The plant would be built in an industrial park in Nanzih District (楠梓) after the city releases the site to TSMC this month, the city government said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung City Government Economic Development Bureau
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said his administration also on Saturday approved a plan establishing the Nanzih Industrial Park.
The presence of TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, in the park reflects Kaohsiung’s ambition to become a high-tech city, Chen said.
The plot of land reserved for TSMC’s planned factory was the site of a CPC Corp, Taiwan’ naphtha cracker complex, which was closed in 2015.
The Kaohsiung Economic Development Bureau has over the past few years rehabilitated the 29.8 hectare site by removing pollutants from the soil and building new infrastructure.
Chen said development of the industrial park would proceed alongside construction of TSMC’s plant.
Work on roads, parks, a wastewater treatment facility, a power distribution network and detention basins in the industrial park would also start next month, Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Lo Ta-sheng (羅達生) said.
TSMC announced its plan to set up a 12-inch wafer plant in Kaohsiung in November last year. The plant would use TSMC’s advanced 7-nanometer process and its mature 28-nanometer process to manufacture chips.
Chips made using the 7-nanometer process are expected to be used in emerging technologies such as high-performance computing devices, while chips made using the 28-nanometer process are likely destined for automotive electronic applications, analysts said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent