TSMC responded that building factories in Japan
For TSMC, which has advanced technology and huge production capacity, it is an object that many countries and regions are trying their best to win over. In order to revitalize chip localization, the United States has repeatedly invited TSMC to build a factory in the United States. In order to improve the chip manufacturing industry and increase chip production capacity, Japan also issued an invitation to TSMC.
TSMC agreed to the invitation from the United States and Japan, but the situation of TSMC's factory construction in these two countries is different.
TSMC has launched its largest overseas investment project in the United States, with investment increasing to 40 billion US dollars, and chip factories also increased from 5nm to 3nm. There are two chip factories in total. If the construction is completed, TSMC will have an annual production capacity of 600,000 wafers in the United States.
Look at Japan again. The investment amount of TSMC's Japanese factory is only US$8.6 billion, and the planned process is 28nm and 22nm, which is a small and medium-sized factory construction investment.
Even if the Japanese factory is fully built and put into production, it will not greatly increase TSMC's production capacity. TSMC's global production capacity reached 14.2 million pieces in 2021, and even if the production capacity of the United States and Japan combined, it only accounts for a very small proportion.
So why does TSMC still need to build factories overseas? The construction of factories in the United States may be due to US subsidies and a large number of customers in the United States, so you can do business better when you go to the United States. Regarding the construction of a factory in Japan, TSMC responded for the first time.
According to TSMC President Wei Zhejia, the construction of the factory in Japan was due to strategic support and was also the largest supplier of TSMC customers.
It seems that the reason why TSMC went to Japan to build a factory has been found. What does this mean? Perhaps it means that TSMC did not go to Japan to build a factory just to improve chip production capacity, which is largely due to the human nature.
Generally speaking, chip manufacturers go anywhere to build factories to increase production capacity and meet the demand for orders that are in short supply. However, whether TSMC is building factories in the United States or Japan, it is not like a move to increase production capacity. It is more like human nature, helping the other party improve its competitiveness in chip manufacturing.
is like building a factory in the United States. TSMC did not purchase new equipment, but moved the equipment from its headquarters to the United States. The same is true for building a factory in Japan, with human nature and worldly reasons behind it.
According to Wei Zhejia, TSMC's largest customer has the largest supplier in Japan. If the products of the largest customer cannot be sold, TSMC's chips cannot be sold, so it needs to be supported.
TSMC's largest customer is undoubtedly Apple , and Apple's largest supplier is Sony from Japan. Sony provides sensor parts for Apple , accounting for a very large proportion of supply in Apple industry chain. Only when Sony stabilizes its production capacity can Apple live a good life and thus bring order revenue to TSMC.
After going around, TSMC has now set up a factory in Japan, not to expand global production capacity, but to help Apple. After all, helping Apple is equal to helping itself.
Will TSMC build a factory in mainland China?
TSMC is in the United States and Japan’s factory building is not based on its own intention. If TSMC decides independently, it will definitely not be too expensive, has an imperfect industrial chain and lacks talents. No matter what, TSMC goes to the United States to build a factory and is a loss-making business. It’s just that due to the US subsidies and the needs of US customers, we can only keep going.
Japan built a factory because Apple's largest supplier is in Japan, otherwise Japan would not have talent and industrial chain advantages. Therefore, some netizens were furious about TSMC's factory building overseas and said that they had gone to the United States and Japan to build factories, so they would not come to the mainland.
The mainland has a rich industrial chain and a massive chip demand. Especially in the future, the production capacity of mature chips will be greatly improved, and chip orders from industries such as smart cars, artificial intelligence , and the Internet of Things will grow steadily.Coupled with the fact that major mobile phone manufacturers have successively entered the track of self-developed chips, demand is not a problem. So will TSMC build a factory in mainland China?
In fact, TSMC has a chip factory project in mainland China. The 28nm chip factory in Nanjing is TSMC’s main production capacity layout in mainland China. Moreover, TSMC has also announced the expansion of its Nanjing factory and increased investment.
However, overall, TSMC will face various variables if it wants to launch a chip factory project in mainland China. Because U.S. chip subsidy rules require that if you receive U.S. subsidies, you will not be able to invest in the construction of 28nm and below factories within ten years.
Once TSMC receives this subsidy, its future investment prospects will be reduced. TSMC operates the Nanjing factory, and the purchase of new equipment still requires license authorization. It is conceivable that TSMC's road is being tightened. Unless TSMC can persist in globalization and maintain independent decision-making, it can still determine its own future.
is written at the end
TSMC should provide services to customers in the global market without being partial or special. But TSMC is a commercial company after all, and making money is its main goal.
The United States has framed TSMC’s way of making money in the U.S. market, allowing TSMC to start building factories in the United States. In Japan, it is also because of the sophistication of people. I don’t know if this situation is what TSMC wants to see.
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