World's largest chipmaker TSMC confirms construction of second factory in Japan with support from Sony and Toyota
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), a major semiconductor contract manufacturing company, has confirmed that it will build a second factory in Japan with support from a well-known Japanese company.
TSMC announced that its second factory in Japan was set up “in response to growing customer demand,” and that once both factories are operational, it will produce “100,000 12-inch wafers per month.”
Demand for chips continues to increase. Japan said last year it would significantly increase spending on semiconductor equipment to strengthen its position in the global market. Chip equipment industry association SEMI said Japan is expected to spend $7bn (£6bn) on wafer fab equipment in 2024.
japanese fab
For now, most of TSMC's manufacturing remains in Taiwan, but the company is currently building factories in Japan as well as Germany and Arizona, USA.
In October 2021, TSMC confirmed multiple reports suggesting that in addition to investment from the Japanese government, the company is considering building a chip factory in Japan in collaboration with Sony Corporation.
TSMC announced three years ago that construction of its first Japanese factory would begin in 2022, with actual manufacturing of the first factory beginning in 2024.
The factory was to be jointly operated with Sony and was located in Kumamoto Prefecture on land believed to be owned by Sony and adjacent to Sony's image sensor factory.
Its first TSMC factory will focus on large 22nm and 28nm chips used in image sensors and microcontrollers.
The cost was $7 billion, split equally between TSMC, Sony, and the Japanese government.
second fab
This time, TSMC confirmed “an additional investment in Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., TSMC's majority-owned manufacturing subsidiary located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.”
The second fab will be supported by funding from Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation. Denso Corporation; the second plant is “scheduled to begin operations by the end of the 2027 calendar year.”
TSMC will have an 86.5% stake, Sony will have a 6% stake, Denso will have a 5.5% stake, and Toyota will have a 2% minority stake.
“Together with JASM's first fab, scheduled to start operating in 2024, with the strong support of the Japanese government, the total investment in JASM will exceed USD 20 billion,” the Taiwanese semiconductor giant said.
“In response to growing customer demand, JASM plans to begin construction of a second factory by the end of 2024,” the company said. “The increased production scale is also expected to improve JASM's overall cost structure and supply chain efficiency.”
According to TSMC, both fabs at JASM's Kumamoto plant will produce more than 100,000 12-inch wafers per month, starting with 40, 22/28, 12/16, and 6/7 nanometer process technologies for automotive and industrial applications. He said total production capacity will be provided. , Consumer and his HPC related applications.
The company said it may further adjust its capacity plans depending on customer demand.
Both fabs are expected to directly create more than 3,400 high-tech professional jobs at the Kumamoto location.
arizona will be late
The increase in production in Japan comes as the chipmaker faces delays on a project in the US state of Arizona.
TSMC announced in 2020 that it would build a $12 billion chip manufacturing factory in Arizona, with construction to begin in 2021.
In December 2022, TSMC revealed that in addition to its first factory in Arizona, it has also begun construction on a second factory scheduled to begin production in 4nm or 3nm process technology in 2026.
Once completed, TSMC Arizona's two fabs will produce more than 600,000 wafers per year, with an estimated final product value of more than $40 billion.
However, in July 2023, TSMC warned that it would delay the start of chip production at its Arizona plant until 2025 due to a lack of skilled labor.
And last month, TSMC announced that its second factory in Arizona would also be delayed. The second facility was previously expected to be operational in 2026, but is now expected to be operational in 2027 or 2028.
TSMC, based in Hsinchu City, Taiwan, produces about 90% of the world's advanced semiconductors, and its customers include Apple and Nvidia.
In the past, it was common to conduct state-of-the-art manufacturing within Taiwan, but commercial pressures and encouragement from many governments have led them to expand overseas in recent years.
