The Taiwanese giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will build a second factory in Japan, it announced with its Japanese partners on Tuesday February 6, just before the inauguration of its first establishment on February 24 on the Japanese island of Kyushu. TSMC is the world’s largest contract microchip manufacturer and controls more than half of the world’s production of chips used in everything from smartphones to missiles.
This new unit “is scheduled to open at the end of 2027”, in Kumamoto prefecture as the first, specified, in a joint press release, TMSC and its Japanese associates Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, the equipment manufacturer Denso and Toyota. In total with the first factory, “Investment will exceed $20 billion, with strong support from the Japanese government”according to the press release.
Japan has promised an investment of 13 billion dollars
In a separate statement, TSMC said Tuesday that its board of directors approved a $5.26 billion capital injection into the Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing joint venture, where TSMC is a majority shareholder and which brings together the partners of these projects .
The Japanese government had indicated in 2023 that it planned to spend $13 billion to boost domestic production of strategically important semiconductors and artificial intelligence technologies. This envelope is also intended to support the construction of a second TSMC factory in Kumamoto, said an official from the Japanese Ministry of Commerce in November. The chip industry faces uncertainty from high inflation and sluggish global economic growth, caused in part by geopolitical tensions.