Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has received final approval from a regulatory body to build a new chip facility that will produce its most advanced products yet. Destined for Hsinchu, an important chipmaking center in its home country of Taiwan, TSMC’s new cutting-edge plant is scheduled to begin construction in early 2022, with production equipment being installed the following year. The development comes just two days after Intel delivered a new road map that suggested it could catch up to TSMC and other rivals by 2024. TSMC is also busy constructing a 5-nanometer chip plant in Arizona, among other potential developments such as a site in Japan and Germany.
TSMC’s move to diversify some production away from Taiwan will weaken the strategic importance of the island in the long term, which makes it more crucial for Taiwan to keep the company’s most cutting-edge production technology onshore, government officials told Nikkei Asia.
Source: Nikkei Asia