The Taiwanese giant is probing Europe to set up a first production site there.
With this strategic move, the group wants to take advantage of the strong demand for semiconductors from the Old Continent.
TSMC targets Germany
This is information transmitted to us by the FinancialTimes. The TSMC group, world number 1 in semiconductors and electronic chips, wants to settle on the European continent. And not just anywhere, since the leading player in the field would like to open up the German market by setting up its first factory there. The aim would be to take advantage of the strong demand from the domestic auto sector for chips.
TSMC is considering building its site near Dresden, the capital of Saxony. The company will thus send a management team at the beginning of next year to continue studying this idea, already initiated during a previous business trip. The possible green light will then be quickly given, and billions would then be released to launch the work from 2024.
The investment would thus create a factory equipped with a technology for the production of chips of 28 and 22 nanometers. TSMC is already engaged in a similar project in collaboration with Sony in Japan, where the group is also considering building a second site.
Europe seeks to make a name for itself in semiconductors
And this ambition of TSMC does not come from nowhere. Europe has indeed announced in 2022 its intention to grow in the chip sector, where it is still very fragile and dependent. The European Commission will thus allocate through its own Chips Act » 43 billion euros over 10 years, in order to increase its market share in the sector from 10 to 20% by 2030.
TSMC will not be the only one on the starting line, since its competitor Intel is already well advanced on the file, and intends to start construction of a mega-factory in Magdeburg (Germany) in 2023. A project for which 17 billion euros will be put on the table.
More generally, if we look at the last quarterly report of the SEMI association, the World Fab Forecast, 500 billion dollars will be invested in the world in the semiconductor industry until 2024. 84 new factories chip manufacturing will emerge in the meantime.
Source : Reuters, FinancialTimes, SEMI
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