Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, is intensifying its efforts to boost semiconductor production capacity by constructing seven additional factories this year.
As reported by Taiwanese media, including the China Times, on the 24th, Huang Yuanguo, head of TSMC’s 18B Fab in southern Tainan, announced at a 2024 technology symposium in Taipei that the company will expand its facilities with seven new plants to meet growing customer demand. These include two wafer factories and five high-tech packaging factories.
Huang explained the need for expansion, noting that although TSMC’s 3nm process production capacity has tripled this year compared to last year, supply still lags behind demand. The shortage of 3nm semiconductors is driven by increasing demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and flagship smartphones.
He added that products like Apple’s A18 processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 84th generation, and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 are expected to adopt TSMC’s N3E, a second-generation 3nm process. TSMC projects that its 3nm production capacity will quadruple once the expansion is completed.
The term “nano” refers to the line width of a semiconductor circuit; the narrower the line width, the lower the power consumption and the faster the processing speed. Currently, the most advanced mass production technology in the world is 3 nanometers.
Huang also mentioned plans to build two high-tech packaging factories in Taichung and Zai regions. The Taichung Plant 5 (AP5) will begin mass production using an advanced process called “chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS)” in 2025, while the Xi 7 (AP7) will commence mass production in 2026.
Additionally, TSMC will start construction on two overseas plants this year: Kumamoto Plant 2 in Japan and the Dresden Plant in Germany.
TSMC anticipates a 30% increase in sales in the second quarter of this year. Cliff Hu, TSMC’s senior vice president, described the current period as a “new golden age for AI” at an event at TSMC’s headquarters in Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park on the 23rd.
Since 2020, TSMC has built six, seven, three, and four plants annually.
