Taiwan Okays TSMC's Plan To Expand Chip Output In Its China Plant

A plan by the world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), to expand production in its plant in China's Nanjing City has been approved by the Investment Commission under Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, Liang Pei-chi, Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang reported for Central News Agency (CNA).

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The commission said TSMC's Nanjing expansion plan secured a greenlight because the investment will come from the chipmaker's earnings made from the China plant, instead of from the company's other funding sources, so it is not expected to impact its paid-in capital.

In addition, the commission said TSMC has pledged to invest NT$600 billion (US$21.43 billion) to NT$650 billion in Taiwan to create more jobs here over the next three years, and it has also made efforts to protect intellectual property to prevent confidential business information from being leaked.

In response to the approval, TSMC said production in the expanded plant in Nanjing, which will use the mature 28 nanometer process, is scheduled to start in the second half of 2022.

In April, a special TSMC board meeting approved a capital expenditure plan for the Nanjing plant, which would allow the chipmaker to invest US$2.89 billion to expand the production site, and produce chips using 28nm technology.

According to TSMC, after production in the expanded plant begins in the second half of 2022, the monthly capacity is expected to hit 40,000 units per month by mid-2023. The plan to expand the Nanjing plant came at a time when the global auto industry is suffering a shortage in automotive electronics chips.

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