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| TSMC and Sony collaborate to build a new chip factory |
The two companies announced that TSMC, the manufacturer of TSMC, has announced a partnership with Sony Corporation (specifically Sony Semiconductor Solutions) to invest $7 billion in a new chip plant in Japan.
As previously announced, the new manufacturer will not focus on the latest chipsets. Instead, it's focusing on legacy 22nm and 28nm manufacturing processes to address the shortages of older chips that affect everything from cars to smartphones.
The CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Corporation announced the new facility last month. Although it was not approved by the TSMC Board of Directors at the time.
According to reports, the new plant has now been approved by the board of directors and the subsidiary is part of a new subsidiary called Japan Advanced Semiconductor Industry JASM.
Sony Semiconductor Group will invest approximately $500 million in the new subsidiary and acquire less than 20% of the shares in JASM.
For those who hope the new plant in Japan will help ease supply constraints on old chips, the new plant will take some time to get up and running. Construction of the new plant will not begin until 2022, and production is not expected to begin until the end of 2024.
The report also shows that the TSMC board of directors has also approved a plan to build a new plant in Taiwan focused on advanced 7nm chips and traditional 28nm products. Construction won't start before 2024 either.
The new plant will not start production until the end of 2024
The new expansion is part of TSMC's ambitious plan to invest $100 billion in capacity building in the chip industry by 2023.
TSMC still makes most of its chips in Taiwan. Apart from the Chinese factory and WaferTech, a small subsidiary in Washington State.
A new $7 billion Japanese factory has been backed. and a planned manufacturing center in Arizona. The $12 billion investment will expand TSMC's influence in the new country. The new factory in Taiwan is also expanding its domestic production capacity.