TSMC plans to build new fab in Singapore

In the past two years, due to the shortage of semiconductor production capacity, as a leading company in the global foundry industry, TSMC has been busy expanding capacity, including building new fabs or expanding existing production lines, with multiple plans underway in China and the United States.

According to The Wall Street Journal, TSMC has a new plan for the near future. This time, the target is not the European region in the past rumors, but Singapore. It is said that it is currently negotiating with the Singapore Economic Development Board. According to TSMC’s official statement, “no possibility is ruled out at this stage, but there are currently no specific plans”.

It is understood that the fab that TSMC plans to build in Singapore will use the 7nm to 28nm process. In other words, not entirely a production line of advanced technology, TSMC is currently building similar production facilities, and the wafer fab in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is scheduled to start operations in 2024. Even if TSMC finally decides to build a factory in Singapore, because it will take several years to build the facility and put it into operation later, the selection of process nodes may eventually change.

TSMC is not the first wafer foundry to choose Singapore to build or expand in recent years. GlobalFoundries announced last year to build a new 300mm wafer fab in Singapore to expand its wafer production capacity in Singapore to manufacture chips for automobiles, 5G mobile networks, and security equipment, with an investment of $4 billion.