TSMC Starts Mass Production at New Japan Fab
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has commenced mass production of chips at its newly established fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, according to SiliconANGLE, citing a report by Kyodo News. The facility, a joint venture with Sony Group Corp. and Denso Corp., marks TSMC's expansion into the Japanese semiconductor market.
TSMC, the world's leading contract chipmaker, initiated the JASM Inc. joint venture in Japan three years ago. Construction on the Kumamoto fab commenced in April 2022 and was completed earlier this year. The facility boasts over 480,000 square feet of cleanroom space, dedicated to manufacturing logic chips using 28-nanometer to 12-nanometer manufacturing processes. While these technologies are several generations behind TSMC's latest three-nanometer node, they remain widely used for cost-effective circuits.
The fab's initial customers include Sony and Denso, the original partners in the JASM venture. The plant will manufacture camera chips for Sony and processors optimized for automotive applications. Car chips, especially those for sensitive components like brakes, must meet stringent reliability standards. Many utilize lockstep processing, a technique that involves redundant computations to minimize errors.
TSMC is planning to build a second fab adjacent to the Kumamoto facility, with operations expected to commence by the end of 2027. This upcoming plant will support six-nanometer and seven-nanometer chip production, expanding the facility's capabilities.
Once both plants are fully operational, they will have a combined capacity of 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. TSMC estimates the total construction cost at $20 billion, with significant financial support from the Japanese government.
TSMC is also considering further expansion in Japan, including a potential advanced chip packaging facility. This would enable the company to manufacture CoWoS hardware, a type of advanced packaging technology used in products such as Nvidia's data center graphics cards. TSMC has maintained an advanced packaging research and development hub in Japan since 2021.