A TSMC building is seen at the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. [Getty Images]
A TSMC building is seen at the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. [Getty Images]

TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, plans to build an additional 3-nanometer (nm) factory in southern Taiwan, according to reports.

Taiwanese media outlets including Liberty Times and the Economic Daily News reported Thursday that TSMC Chairman Wei Che-chia announced the expansion at the company's third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 15, citing strong demand from customers.

Wei said TSMC had traditionally refrained from expanding production capacity once a process node reached its target output, but that the company decided to scale up after concluding internally that demand for 3nm chips would remain strong for years to come. Under the plan, TSMC will build an additional 3nm factory in Tainan and begin mass production in 2028.

Earlier, at the first-quarter earnings call in April, Wei said TSMC planned to build 3nm factories in Taiwan, the United States and Japan starting the following year, driven by AI demand. With the latest addition, TSMC's 3nm factory construction plan for this year now stands at "3+1."

The Tainan City Government's Bureau of Economic Development said it maintains close communication with TSMC and will provide support for water supply, electricity, public infrastructure and administrative procedures related to the construction. It added that since TSMC entered the Southern Science Park, cumulative investment has reached NT$1.86 trillion ($57 billion) and the company has created 11,300 jobs.

Data from Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council showed that sales from the Tainan district of the Southern Science Park reached NT$2.34 trillion in the January–August period this year, up 33.53 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin said in a Bloomberg interview published Friday that Taiwan plans to build its first industrial complex in the United States in Texas. He added that the government intends to work with the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association to invest up to $4 billion to establish a small- and medium-sized supply chain there.

Kung said companies handling the small- and medium-sized supply chain are indispensable to the operations of AI server assemblers — including TSMC and Taiwan's Foxconn, key production partners of Nvidia, the leader in AI semiconductors.


kate01@heraldcorp.com