Taiwan's TSMC, the world's No. 1 foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, will hold the opening ceremony of its first factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, on the 24th.
According to Japanese media on the 21st, the factory, located on approximately 210,000㎡ of land in Kikuyo-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture, consists of a FAB building with cleanrooms, an office building, and gas storage facilities. The cleanroom, essential for semiconductor manufacturing processes, alone covers 45,000㎡. This is nearly the size of the Tokyo Dome, a professional baseball stadium in Japan.
The factory operation is managed by JASM, a subsidiary established by TSMC to operate this factory. Besides TSMC as the major shareholder, Japanese companies such as Sony and Denso have also invested. JASM employs about 400 expatriates dispatched from Taiwan, approximately 200 personnel dispatched from the Sony Group, and local hires totaling 1,700 employees. The factory plans to produce about 55,000 wafers per month (based on 300mm wafers) of products using 12 to 28 nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) process technology.
The opening ceremony is expected to be attended by not only TSMC but also officials from both governments. According to Taiwanese media, TSMC's founder Morris Chang, Chairman Liu Deyin, and Kung Ming-hsin, Minister-level Chairman of the National Development Council (NDC), will attend. From the Japanese side, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Princess Kako of the Japanese Imperial Family are expected to be present.
The Japanese government aims to revive its semiconductor industry, which dominated the world in the 1980s. As part of this effort, it has offered a large-scale subsidy program to attract TSMC's factory to Japan. Japan plans to provide subsidies of up to 476 billion yen (approximately 4.2341 trillion won), nearly half of the investment amount for TSMC's first factory.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
