TSMC affirms commitment to Taiwan with new domestic fab amid overseas expansion

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) said on Monday that its newly built domestic fab would add 7,000 tech jobs to the island’s economy and that it would continue to expand in Taiwan, following concern that its investment in the US will dilute its presence at home.

Y.P. Chyn, TSMC’s executive vice-president and co-chief operating officer, made the comments at a ceremony at the fab in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung, in footage carried on Taiwanese television stations.

The ceremony at the factory, which produces TSMC’s most advanced chips employing 2-nanometre technology, comes the same month the company, the dominant producer of advanced semiconductors, announced a US$100 billion investment plan in the United States.

Both TSMC and Taiwan’s government have repeatedly said a substantial amount of the company’s production would remain on the island. TSMC is so important to Taiwan’s economy that it is often referred to as the “sacred mountain” protecting the island.

Chyn said the new fab was on track to begin volume production of 2-nm wafers in the second half of this year, as scheduled.

TSMC did not directly address concerns about the effects of its massive investments in US production on the local economy, making only a general allusion to the importance of the company’s growing global footprint, while giving assurances that Taiwan would continue to have a key role as the company’s home base.