#image_title
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, January 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo
TOKYO — Japan said it will give TSMC up to 732 billion yen ($4.86 billion) more in subsidies to help it build a second chip fabrication plant as the Taiwanese company on Saturday marked the opening of its first Japanese factory.
TSMC’s decision to build chips in Japan has become a key component of Tokyo’s push to revive advanced semiconductor manufacturing and harden its industrial supply chains against disruptions as tensions with neighboring China grow.
READ: Taiwan chip firms flock to Japan as China decoupling accelerates
“The chips will be more advanced than the first factory and can be used for AI and autonomous driving, and will ensure we have stable supply of semiconductors in Japan,” Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito told reporters after attending a ceremony for the opening of the first factory in Kumamoto on Japan’s Kyushu island, hosted by TSMC’s founder Morris Chang.
The latest financial commitment, which will add to money given to the world’s biggest chipmaker for its first factory, could push taxpayer-funded subsidies for TSMC beyond 1 trillion yen.
TSMC, which is also expanding in the U.S. and Germany, plans to ramp up to mass production in Japan before the end of the year. Total investment in the venture, including a second plant, will exceed more than $20 billion, according to the Taiwanese company.
READ: TSMC starts volume production of most advanced chips in Taiwan
When completed, monthly capacity across the two factories will exceed 100,000 12-inch wafers that TSMC will supply to technology firms and carmakers including Sony and Toyota Motor.
Japan is also investing in a homegrown chip venture, Rapidus, which is partnering with IBM and Imec, a European chip research organization, in a bid to mass produce cutting-edge chips on the northern island of Hokkaido from 2027.
Vladimir Putin has a secret hi-tech bunker that can accommodate potentially thousands of people in…
Jennie Carignan, the incoming commander of NATO’s Iraq mission, salutes during the handover ceremony in…
A Wet'suwet'en hereditary chief will serve a 60-day jail sentence under house arrest for disrupting…
When Hurricane Beryl hit the Grenadine Islands on July 1, its 150 mph winds and…
Vanessa Hudgens is soarin', flyin' into motherhood. The High School Musical alum gave birth to her first…
A 22-YEAR-OLD Brits feared she was going to "die alone" after she was thrown down…
This website uses cookies.