Chip, all the maxi-plans (and maxi-aid) of Tsmc in Japan
TSMC will build a second factory in Japan dedicated to advanced, 6-nanometer microchips. In exchange, it will receive a 900 billion yen subsidy from Tokyo. All the details
Taiwanese company TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor company, plans to produce six-nanometer microchips at its second factory in Japan, currently under construction.
JAPAN'S SUBSIDIES TO TSMC
Nikkei Asia writes this, referring to the new structure that will be built in Kumamoto, in the south-west of Japan, and which will require an investment of 2000 billion yen (13.3 billion dollars). The Japanese government, through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, will contribute to the economic effort with a sum of approximately 900 billion yen.
THE IMPORTANCE OF NANOMETERS
TSMC's six-nanometer chips will be the most sophisticated chips made in Japan, which is currently unable to produce chips smaller than forty nanometers. In fact, the lower the number of nanometers, the more advanced the semiconductor. Advanced microchips are required by 5G systems and artificial intelligence applications. At home in Taiwan, TSMC produces three-nanometer microchips.
WHAT TSMC WILL DO IN KUMAMOTO
The subsidies to TSMC's factory and the entire semiconductor industry, crucial to the advancement of digital technologies, are part of a broader economic stimulus package that the Japanese government is expected to conclude by the end of October. The Ministry of Economy – a historically influential body in Japanese industrial planning – has requested 3.35 trillion yen for this fiscal year's supplementary budget.
TSMC began building its first factory in Kumamoto in April 2022; work on the second factory, however, should start next summer and the start of mass production – 60,000 units per month – is scheduled for 2027. The company will make six and twelve nanometer logic chips, intended for technology companies like Sony and beyond.
The first plant in Kumamoto, less sophisticated, will be dedicated to the manufacturing of twelve and twenty-eight nanometer devices, with an investment of approximately 1200 billion yen.
THE OTHER SUBSIDIES: INTEL, SONY AND MORE
The Ministry of Economy plans to allocate an additional 590 billion yen to Rapidus, a Japanese company, which aims to produce cutting-edge semiconductors in 2027. So far, the government has provided Rapidus with 330 billion.
Among the semiconductor companies subsidized by Tokyo there is also the US Intel, one of the giants in the sector, which will receive 50 billion for research and development of microchip assembly and packaging processes.
Sony, Japanese – which supplies, among other things, image sensors for Apple's iPhones – will instead get 310 billion in aid.
Over the past two years, the Japanese government has provided investment incentives worth more than 2 trillion yen. Even the United States and the European Union, interested in "counting more" in the global chip industry, have developed subsidy programs, worth 52.7 billion dollars and 43 billion euros respectively.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/tsmc-giappone-sussidi/ on Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:58:28 +0000.