The logo of TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker. [Getty Images]
The logo of TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker. [Getty Images]

TSMC, the world's largest foundry, plans to spend $29.44 billion (42 trillion won) on advanced processes, packaging and related operations.

Taiwanese media outlets including Liberty Times and China Times reported Wednesday, citing sources, that TSMC's board approved the capital expenditure plan at a meeting held Tuesday at the company's 2-nanometer process factory in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan — the first board meeting held at that site. The sources said the approved spending would go toward advanced processes, advanced packaging, upgrades to mature and specialty processes, and factory construction.

According to the sources, TSMC also plans to acquire up to 282 billion yen ($1.77 billion) in equity in a new joint venture with Sony — the world's top image sensor maker — related to next-generation image sensor production in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.

Sony intends to use TSMC's advanced processes for the research, development and manufacturing of next-generation image sensor chips, with mass production targeted for 2029. The sources said Sony is focused on applications in advanced robotics and self-driving cars.

Earlier, at its second-quarter earnings call in mid-July, TSMC said demand for AI chips on advanced processes was very strong and continued to grow among major customers and cloud service providers, adding that order visibility already extended from 2029 through 2030. At that call, TSMC raised its annual capital expenditure outlook from around $50 billion to between $60 billion and $64 billion.

Meanwhile, TSMC Vice President of Advanced Packaging Technology and Services Hsu Chun said Tuesday at the 2026 OCP APAC Summit at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei that the company is already mass-producing its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology at 5.5 times the reticle size this year, and expects to offer CoWoS at 14 times the reticle size by 2029.

CoWoS is an advanced packaging process that stacks GPU and HBM chips on a single substrate, boosting processing performance while saving space and reducing power consumption.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com