According to foreign media reports, TSMC announced on November 9, 2021, that it would establish a joint venture and build a joint venture factory with Sony in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. After Denso Corporation took a stake and added 12/16nm process technology, construction started in April last year and is planned to be put into production next year. Judging from the latest reports from foreign media, TSMC, which has already built a joint venture factory in Japan, also intends to build another factory in Japan. Sources say that they are already considering it, and Japan also plans to continue to provide subsidies for building factories.
TSMC is considering building another factory in Japan, according to news from industry insiders and foreign media. Regarding subsidies, there is news that as long as TSMC builds a second factory, Japan plans to provide a subsidy of one-third of the factory construction cost.
In addition, foreign media also mentioned in the report that compared with building a factory in Arizona, TSMC faces much smaller challenges in terms of skilled workers when building a factory in Japan. The working environment in Japan is also conducive to TSMC’s recruitment of employees and factory operations.
TSMC's factory in Arizona, USA, announced its construction on May 15, 2020. The initial plan was to invest US$12 billion to build a wafer foundry with a 5-nanometer process. However, on December 6 last year, they announced that they would upgrade to a 4-nanometer process and build a second fab. After completion, they will use the 3nm process to OEM wafers for customers. The investment in the two fabs will be close to US$40 billion.
Although the process technology of TSMC's joint venture factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is different from that of the factory in Arizona, building the factory also requires high investment. After adding 12/16 nanometer process technology to the 22 and 28 nanometers, the investment in the factory will also increase to approximately US$8.6 billion.
If TSMC builds a second factory in Japan, it is expected to be a factory with more advanced process technology, and the investment will be greater than the first factory.