Taiwanese company TSMC announced that it will open its latest advanced chip manufacturing facility on the Japanese island of Kyushu on February 24, while the launch of its factory in the United States faces further delays, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company controls more than half of the global production of silicon chips used in all types of devices, from smartphones to cars and rockets.
In recent years, the company has been able to deal with the geopolitical competition between the United States and China, which included Taiwan, which represents its primary manufacturing base.
Chairman Mark Liu announced Thursday during a call with investors regarding fourth-quarter earnings of 2023 that the official date for opening the factory in Japan is February 24. He added that TSMC’s expansion abroad “depends on the needs of our customers and the necessary level of government support.”
Last year, the Japanese government announced its intention to spend $13 billion to boost domestic production of strategically important semiconductors and generative artificial intelligence technology.
A Japanese Trade Ministry official said in November that part of the spending would go to support the construction of a second factory for the Taiwanese company in Kumamoto. But Liu said Thursday that the second plant is still in the “serious evaluation stage.”
Liu also revealed that plans to open the company’s factory in the US state of Arizona “are on track for production… in the first half of 2025.” But he added that completion of a second plant in Arizona would be delayed until 2027 or 2028.
The delay represents a setback for the administration of US President Joe Biden, who attracted TSMC in an attempt to reduce the United States’ dependence on factories located abroad, according to the report.
The construction of the two factories in Arizona faced problems that the Taiwanese company attributed to a lack of skilled workers. The Chairman also said regarding the planned manufacturing facility in Germany – the first in Europe – that “(construction) is scheduled to begin in the last quarter of this year.”
In terms of performance, the report says that TSMC announced a 19.3% decrease in its net profits in the period from October to December 2023 to 238.7 billion Taiwan dollars (7.6 billion US dollars). ), while its revenues remained “basically flat.”
