A new factory by Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC opened in Japan on Saturday that should help bolster the global supply of chips, which have become crucial to the economy, according to the group’s founder Morris Chang. This factory, TSMC’s first in the archipelago, “I believe will improve the resilience of chip supply for Japan and for the world,” stressed the 92-year-old veteran during the factory opening ceremony in Kikuyo, the southern island of Kyushu.
The Taiwanese giant, which counts Apple and Nvidia among its clients, controls more than half of the world’s production of chips, used in everything from smartphones and connected cars to missiles and artificial intelligence (AI). But TSMC customers, as well as governments concerned about the supply of chips vital to their economies and defense, have pressured the company to make more chips outside the autonomous island. TSMC has begun to further diversify its industrial capabilities, amid growing fears of an invasion of Taiwan by China, which considers the island a Chinese province over which it must regain control.
A plan of 25 billion euros in three years from the Japanese government
The Kikuyo megafactory, which cost the equivalent of 8 billion euros, was subsidized by more than 40% by Japan. It is one of the pillars of Japan’s ambitious plan to revitalize its semiconductor industry. The Kumamoto factory is one of TSMC’s largest industrial investments abroad, emphasizes Chris Miller, professor at Tufts University, near Boston (northeast United States), and author in 2022 of “Chip War”, a notable book about the competition in electronic chips that is currently developing between Asia, the United States and Europe.
TSMC’s new facilities are also a blow to Japan, which competes with the United States and Europe to attract semiconductor companies with huge subsidies. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during the opening ceremony that Japan “is now positioned as an important anchor in TSMC’s global strategy.” The Japanese Government plans to invest up to 4,000 million yen (about 25,000 million euros) in three years, with the aim of tripling sales of “made in Japan” chips between now and 2030, to exceed 15,000 million yen (more than 90 billion euros in 2030). current prices) per year.
A first European factory in Germany
In February, TSMC confirmed that it would build a second megafactory in the Kumamoto department, again with significant financial support from Tokyo and private Japanese companies such as Sony and Toyota. According to the press, TSMC is also considering building a third, or even a fourth, giant factory in Japan in the long term. The group is also building a gigantic production plant in Arizona (southwestern United States), a project that has been delayed, and is planning another in Germany, the first in Europe.
But Japan has the advantage of being geographically close to Taiwan, having extensive experience in semiconductor production, and being efficient: the TSMC factory was completed in just 22 months. The island of Kyushu has been nicknamed “Silicon Island” since the 1960s, as it concentrates more than a third of Japan’s semiconductor companies. But as is the case with other sectors of activity, the country fears running out of labor to rebuild its semiconductor sector, due to its pronounced demographic decline.
Source: BFM TV
