8% of EU enterprises used AI technologies in 2023

TSMC Outlines Work On Nine New Advanced Factories

By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter, in HSINCHU CITY

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company's annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City.

"We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced chip packaging factory," Chang said. "To support customers' business growth, we are expanding factories both in Taiwan and overseas."

Photo courtesy of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co

TSMC is slated to start construction of a new wafer fab, its most advanced, in Taichung by the end of this year, he said.

Dubbed Fab 25, the facility is to produce next-generation chips beyond 2-nanometer process technology, he said.

In Kaohsiung, TSMC plans to build five wafer fabs to produce chips using the 2-nanometer and A16 technology processes — with the latter its first angstrom-level technology — and next-generation advanced technologies, Chang said.

TSMC expects its 2-nanometer technology to enter volume production in the second half of this year at two new fabs in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, he said.

In Arizona, TSMC is to start construction of a new manufacturing fab this year, while in Japan, the chipmaker plans to start building a second fab in Kumamoto Prefecture by the end of this year, he said.

In response to strong demand for HPC and AI chips, the company is to add one advanced chip packaging facility using chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology, Chang said.

TSMC expects to expand its CoWoS capacity at a compound annual growth rate of 80 percent from 2022 to next year, surpassing its previous estimate of 60 percent last year. The chipmaker experienced severe supply constraints of CoWoS capacity due to "insane" demand over the past two years.

TSMC last month said it planned to double its CoWoS capacity this year to further alleviate supply tightness.

"For the semiconductor industry, 2024 marked the first year of AI. The momentum is to carry into this year, driven by strong demand for AI data centers," TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said.

That has led to robust demand for TSMC's leading-edge technologies from 5-nanometer to 4-nanometer and for 3-nanometer technology, Zhang said.

TSMC expects to ship 60 percent more chips made with the 3-nanometer process this year compared with last year, bringing the compound annual growth rate to 20 percent from 2023 to this year.

The company's shipments of overall AI chips would swell 12-fold this year from 2021, TSMC said.

It counts Nvidia Corp among its top customers for AI chips.

TSMC yesterday reiterated that total global semiconductor industry revenue would grow 10 percent annually this year, despite external uncertainty such as US tariffs.

"We have strong confidence about our projection last year that the world semiconductor market would grow to US$1 trillion in 2030," Zhang said.

A large portion, about 45 percent of the semiconductor revenue, would derive from HPC devices, followed by smartphones' 25 percent, automotive's 15 percent and 10 percent from Internet-of-things, he said.

Although the automotive sector has been plagued by inventory-driven weakness over the past year or so, TSMC expects significant growth potential from the sector, thanks to faster adoption of more advanced technologies to cope with rising demand for advanced driver-assistance systems used in autonomous vehicles, Zhang said.

TSMC expects customers to adopt the firm's 5-nanometer and 3-nanometer technologies, upgrading from 12-nanometer and 8-nanometer technologies, he said.

---