According to relevant media reports citing a senior Taiwanese official, TSMC (TSM.US) plans to build more factories in Europe, focusing on the artificial intelligence chip market. However, this report was officially denied by TSMC. "There may be some misunderstandings, TSMC remains focused on our current global expansion projects and has no new investment plans at this time," the company said in an emailed statement.
Wu Chengwen, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, did not reveal a timetable for the company's further expansion plans in Europe.
TSMC noted that the company remains focused on current global expansion projects and has no new investment plans at this time.
Wu Chengwen said that the artificial intelligence market, including Nvidia (NVDA.US) and AMD (AMD.US) chips, will be the most important market segment, and other semiconductor companies with alternative designs may also provide opportunities for TSMC.
"Maybe they can also work in the European market, so TSMC is looking at that to plan their next few fabs," Wu added, noting that TSMC will need to review whether it needs to expand in the German city of Dresden or build elsewhere in the EU.
Wu added that he also hopes to promote joint research and development projects between academia in Taiwan and the Czech Republic.
It is understood that the Taiwanese chipmaker has invested billions of dollars to build new factories in the United States, Japan and Germany.
In August this year, the European Commission said it had approved Germany to provide 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in state aid to support the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) to build and operate a new microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden. ESMC is a joint venture between TSMC, Bosch, NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.US) and Infineon Technologies (IFNNY.US). Previously, TSMC has pointed out that the total investment is expected to exceed 10 billion euros (about 11 billion U.S. dollars), including equity injections, debt, and help from the European Union and the German government. The factory will be operated by TSMC.
In addition, Wu Chengwen said that he expects Taiwanese chip companies to face additional pressure to expand in the United States no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election in November.
Ng added: "But in the long run, in my opinion, it could be a good thing for them because they can improve themselves."
So far, TSMC has committed more than $65 billion to build three facilities in Arizona.