TSMC Considers Building Factory in Germany to Work on Local Car Chips

Illustration of TSMC/dok Factory. TSMC

JAKARTA - After expanding its chip factory in Arizona, United States of America (US), now the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is considering building its first factory in Europe.

The factory, which is said to be located in Dresden Germany, will begin construction in 2024. The aim is to meet the demand for locally produced chips from the European car industry.

Reportedly, TSMC senior executives will visit Germany early next year to discuss government support and local supply chain capacity to meet the company's needs.

In addition, TSMC is also in talks with several material and equipment suppliers to determine whether they can invest in the company's proposed chip factory in Dresden, Germany.

Later, TSMC's new factory will focus on producing 22Nm (Nanometer) and 28Nm chips using more than 50 types of equipment and more than 2,000 materials, such as chemicals and industrial gases.

The chip technology will be similar to what TSMC plans to build in a factory in Japan with Sony. However, it is different from what the company will produce in Arizona, namely 3Nm.

TSMC is indeed quite different from its competitors, Intel and Samsung, which are currently increasing their capacity, while TSMC is focused on continuing to expand its business by entering the European market.

However, the world's three largest chip makers have committed to invest at least $380 billion over the next decade to build new factories in Taiwan, South Korea, the US, Japan, Germany, Ireland and Israel.

TSMC's decision to build a factory in Dresden, Germany will benefit the European Union, which is seeking to reduce its dependence on semiconductor imports from Asia.

The European Union plans subsidies of 43 billion euros in 2021 to encourage chip makers to build their factories in the country.

Cited from The Register, Sunday, December 25, TSMC itself manufactures semiconductors almost exclusively in its native Taiwan and neighboring China, where it makes chips for customers including Apple, Nvidia and AMD.