TSMC Invests 850 Billion KRW to Acquire Innolux Factory Under Foxconn

"Used for packaging process by acquiring the factory"

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, is reportedly set to acquire a factory of Innolux, a panel company under Taiwan's Foxconn Group, for 20 billion Taiwan dollars (approximately 845 billion KRW).

Taiwanese media, including Economic Daily, cited sources on the 13th reporting that TSMC will use the factory for packaging (assembly and packaging) processes after acquisition.

According to reports, at the end of last month, Innolux's board approved the sale of its 4th factory in the Tainan Southern Science Park. TSMC was selected as the preferred negotiation partner by offering more than 20% above the minimum purchase price set.

The factory is located about a 5-minute drive from a nearby TSMC plant. It is reported that several companies, including the US-based Micron, participated in the bidding.

TSMC plans to dismantle the 5.5-generation liquid crystal display (LCD) production equipment at this factory and install advanced packaging process facilities. It is also expected to be used for research and development (R&D) and production of cutting-edge processes below 3nm (nanometer, one billionth of a meter).

Additionally, there are prospects that TSMC may build an advanced 1.4nm factory in the Kaohsiung Nanzih Science Park.

Taiwan Radio International (RTI) and others, citing sources, reported that there is space to build an additional wafer factory in the Nanzih Science Park, with sufficient water and electricity, indicating the possibility of TSMC establishing a 1.4nm factory there.

Nanometer is a unit indicating the linewidth of semiconductor circuits. The narrower the linewidth, the lower the power consumption and the faster the processing speed.

Currently, the world's most advanced mass production technology is 3nm. Samsung Electronics has declared plans to mass-produce semiconductors using 2nm processes in 2025 and 1.4nm processes in 2027. Meanwhile, TSMC announced in April that it plans to start semiconductor production using 1.6nm processes from 2026.