TSMC expands into Pingtung Science Park with supply chain partners to strengthen domestic advanced manufacturing nodes and packaging clusters for global artificial intelligence demand
TSMC has commenced the latest phase of its domestic expansion by moving into the Pingtung Science Park along with seven of its supply chain partners, including Marketech International Corporation. During the groundbreaking ceremony held on the 12th, TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei indicated that its domestic manufacturing operations form the core of its global business. Wei assured attendees that the demand for semiconductors will remain high for a long time to come, and predicted that Taiwan would be the "most important place in the world" for the development of semiconductors.
Although TSMC continues to develop manufacturing sites abroad, its most advanced processes and research remain rooted at home. The latest 2 nanometer process is focused on Hsinchu Baoshan and Kaohsiung while the highly in demand 3 nanometer process currently uses Tainan Fab 18, which is the company's largest 3 nanometer manufacturing site to date. This focus on the newest nodes has transformed southern Taiwan into a supercluster for global semiconductor manufacturing.
Besides fabrication, TSMC is heavily focusing on the development of its advanced packaging capabilities. Custom ASIC demands for proprietary technologies such as CoWoS and SoIC are growing exponentially on the back of demands for GPUs from customers including Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom, and hyperscale cloud service providers. To satisfy these requirements, expansion is being rushed at its advanced packaging sites at Chiayi AP7 and Southern Taiwan Science Park AP8, which are stimulating demand for local equipment, materials, testing and engineering services.
Analysts describe this move into Pingtung not as simple increased capacity, but as strategic effort on the part of TSMC to cluster its entire supply chain together in order to increase efficiency. Lowering logistical costs and production lead times are the core benefits of having its manufacturing, packaging and raw material suppliers together in one location. This will continue the role of Taiwan as the primary Quantified Yield and research base for high demand on artificial intelligence infrastructure growth.
During his address, Wei expressed thanks to its local suppliers who have supported it through the years. He stated that he, his employees, and the foundry would not have reached this milestone without their commitment, and he also thanked the Pingtung government for allowing its supply chain partners access to the necessary land for continued long term development.
