[Industrial] TSMC Investment in New 12-inch Wafer Plant to Total NT$300 Billion

[Industrial] TSMC Investment in New 12-inch Wafer Plant to Total NT$300 Billion (Chinese Version)

CNA – Focus Taiwan (2011/12/08) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, said December 8 it will invest a total of NT$300 billion (US$9.93 billion) in the new 12-inch wafer plant it is building in the Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the third phase of the plant, TSMC Chairman Morris CHANG said the 12-inch wafer facility, called Fab 15, will have a monthly production capacity of more than 100,000 wafers.

The new plant is also expected to create about 8,000 jobs because it needs more people to strengthen its high-end chip research and development, CHANG said.

The Taichung plant is the company's third 12-inch wafer plant that hopes to produce chips using 28 nanometer technology or even more advanced processes.

The two other 12-inch wafer plants are located in the Hsinchu Science Park and in the Southern Taiwan Science Park of Tainan, called Fab 12 and Fab 14 respectively. Fab 12 is already producing a small volume of 28 nm chips.

In the third quarter of this year, chips made with the 28 nm process accounted for just 0.1 percent of TSMC's total revenue, but the company expects the new technology to account for 2 percent in the fourth quarter and exceed 10 percent by the end of 2012.

The first phase of Fab 15 is scheduled to begin commercial production in March 2012, focusing on 28 nm process production in the initial stage.

CHANG said the third phase of Fab 15 is expected to become operational in 2013 to produce chips using the 20 nm process or even more advanced technology with a monthly capacity of 40,000 units.


Further Information:
CNA – Focus Taiwan 2011/12/09

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