What’s new: Leading global contract chipmaker Taiwan Manufacturing Semiconductor Co. (TSMC) will invest NT$303.2 billion ($10 billion) to build a new chip testing and assembly plant in Taiwan’s Miaoli county.
Construction on the complex will be completed in May next year, with its first phase set to start production shortly afterwards.
The factory will initially employ about 1,000 people and is the biggest investment of all time in Miaoli.
What’s the background: Construction of the lower-end chip-finishing facility marks a relatively unusual move by TSMC, which focuses on more lucrative and technically challenging front-end chip production.
The announcement comes as Washington pressures companies like TSMC to build similar manufacturing facilities in the U.S. It also wants such companies to do less business with China, which it increasingly sees as a technology rival.
Responding to those pressures, TSMC is planning to build a $12 billion plant in the U.S. state of Arizona employing more than 1,600 people and producing state-of-the-art 5 nanometer chips, according to media reports last month.
Related: Taiwan Chipmaker TSMC Creates ‘Good Will’ With $12 Billion U.S. Factory Plan
Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) and editor Gavin Cross (gavincross@caixin.com)
