When the world is in a chip shortage, countries are competing to invite TSMC to set up factories. The United States is grabbing the first fame. TSMC went to Arizona to build a 5-nanometer chip factory, which is estimated to be mass-produced in 2024. TSMC cooperated with Sony to build an wafer factory in Kumamoto, Japan, and initially produced 22-28-nanometer chips. Judging from TSMC, which has mass-produced 5-nanometer chips, Japan has introduced technology from the past 10 years. What are the plans behind it?
Japanese media reported that pure electric vehicles are the future trend, and chip demand is expected to increase significantly. 22-28-nanometer chips are still new technologies in automobiles and industrial equipment, and the cost is relatively low, so they are favored by the Japanese side. In addition, Kumamoto is located in Kyushu, gathering the semiconductor and automobile industries. TSMC went to set up factories, and the local government has high hopes for "revitalizing Kyushu Silicon Island."
TSMC and Sony jointly build a 12-inch wafer factory in Kumamoto, Japan. In the initial stage, it adopts a 22-28-nanometer process to meet the strong market demand for special technologies. The factory is expected to start construction in 2022 and mass production by the end of 2024, with a monthly production capacity of about 45,000 pieces. The Japanese government plans to subsidize 400 billion yen , which is about half of the initial capital expenditure of 800 billion yen (about 7 billion US dollars).
Nikkei News reported that according to statistics from the Kyushu Economic and Industrial Bureau, the number of semiconductor-related manufacturing industries in Kyushu accounts for 35% of Japan's proportion. In 2020, the total production of integrated circuit reached 736.1 billion yen (about 6.4 billion US dollars), accounting for 43% of Japan's overall proportion.
However, Japan's semiconductor industry has been sluggish for a long time, and the factories that supported the glory of the past have fallen behind in the fierce global competition. Currently, Sony has the most advanced sensor factories in Kumamoto and Nagasaki, but logic semiconductors are only the previous generation factories.
Since Japanese companies have withdrawn from the manufacturing of state-of-the-art logic semiconductors, TSMC and Sony's new factories plan to produce 22-28-nanometer chips, which is equivalent to the top technology in Japan. However, for TSMC, which mass-produces 5-nanometer chips, this is the technology 10 years ago.
Why did Japan introduce TSMC’s process 10 years ago? Sanshiro Fukao, senior researcher at Itochu General Research Institute, said that decarbonization has become a global trend and will help drive the demand for pure electric vehicle chips. 22-28-nano chips are still relatively new technologies in automotive and industrial equipment, and their costs are relatively low, so they are favored by Japan.
Kyushu area is a major center for semiconductor and automobile industries, and is also a production base for automobile factories such as Nissan and Toyota . With Kumamoto as the center, it gathers core components factories of pure electric vehicles such as automotive semiconductors, batteries and motor . TSMC went to Kumamoto to set up a factory, which not only strengthened Japan's semiconductor production, but also placed high hopes on "revitalizing Kyushu Silicon Island."
In addition, Kyushu has the advantage of geographical advantages, which will help cooperate with East Asian countries where pure electric vehicle suppliers are growing.
