Taiwan’s TSMC Starts Production of Its Most Advanced Chip Yet

TSMC President and Co-CEO Mark Liu attends an investors' conference in Taipei.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC) said on Thursday that it has began mass production of the 3 nanometre chip.

“TSMC is maintaining its technology leadership while investing significantly in Taiwan, continuing to invest and prosper with the environment,” TSMC Chairman Mark Liu told a ceremony marking the production and capacity expansion in the southern city of Tainan.

Liu said demand for the firm’s 3-nanometre chip was “very strong”, driven by new technologies including 5G and high-performance computing products.

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The long-awaited mass production of chips with 3-nanometre technology comes as attention focuses on the world’s largest contract chipmaker’s investment plans at home and abroad. TSMC has a dominant position as a maker of advanced chips used in technology from cellphones to fighter jets.

Liu said the mass production was successful and with good yields, adding that the new 3-nanometre technology would create end products with a market value of $1.5 trillion within five years.

Global Expansion

Earlier this month, TSMC said it would more than triple its planned investment at its new Arizona plant to $40 billion, among the largest foreign investments in U.S. history.

The Taiwanese company, which counts Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp among its major clients, is also building a chip plant in Japan and has said it was in the early stages of reviewing a potential expansion into Germany.

In an apparent response to the concerns that TSMC’s foreign investment would undermine Taiwan’s key position in semiconductors, Liu said the production was a demonstration that TSMC was “taking concrete action to develop advanced technology and expand capacity in Taiwan.”

Taiwan’s government has dismissed concerns about a “goodbye to Taiwan” trend for the chip industry, saying the island’s position as a major semiconductor producer and maker of the most advanced chips is secure.

TSMC said it was working to build factories for the next generation 2-nanometre chips, which were planned to be manufactured in northern and central Taiwan.

Reuters, with additional editing from Alfie Habershon

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Alfie Habershon

Alfie is a Reporter at Asia Financial. He previously lived in Mumbai reporting on India's economy and healthcare for data journalism initiative IndiaSpend, as well as having worked for London based Tortoise Media.