TSMC is moving ahead with plans to build a second semiconductor factory in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture. That’s according to a report from the Japanese news organization Nikkan Kogyo, which made no source attribution. Bloomberg asked the Japanese economics ministry about the report, but they declined to comment.
Rumors of a potential second factory have been swirling for months, and TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏重慶) even acknowledged in January that a second factory was being considered. TSMC has already begun construction on the first factory at an estimated cost of US$8.6 billion, which will build chips at the 12-28 nm size. The new factory is reported to be building even more advanced chips in the 5-10 nm range.
The factories in Japan are part of a change in global supply chains which are aiming to reduce reliance on China. The news comes on the heels of a New York Times report which documented the troubled TSMC factory project in the US state of Arizona.
The most advanced 3nm to 5 nm chips are made in Taiwan.