Powerchip opens NT$300 billion fab in Miaoli

Miaoli, May 2 (CNA) Taiwan chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC) on Thursday inaugurated a NT$300 billion (US$9.23 billion) new fab in Tongluo, Miaoli County, which is set to initially churn out 50,000 12-inch wafers a month, according to the company.

The new facility covers an area of over 110,000 square meters and has a clean room area of 28,000 square meters, PSMC said.

Currently, a 12-inch assembly line with a monthly production capacity of 50,000 wafers using 55, 40 and 28-nanometer process technologies at the fab has gone into trial production.

In the second phase, new production equipment will be installed in the factory to make chips using 20nm processes, it added.

Powerchip began constructing the Miaoli fab in March 2021. To date, the company has spent NT$80 billion on the 12-inch wafer fab, according to PSMC.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and nearly 700 representatives from the semiconductor industry attended the new factory's inauguration ceremony, which was presided over by PSMC Chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁).

Tsai said that the wafer fab's construction has been successfully completed despite multiple challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This demonstrates the strength and resilience of Taiwan's semiconductor industry, she added.

At the event, Huang said that PSMC was the first to set up a 12-inch wafer fab in Taiwan and that the group had so far constructed eight.

Taiwan's semiconductor industry is the most efficient in the world and this helps Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, cement its leading position, Huang added.

TSMC produces an estimated 90 percent of the world's super-advanced semiconductor chips, according to industry estimates.

Huang also attributed Taiwan's dominance in the semiconductor industry in part to President Tsai's wise leadership over the past eight years.

He said the establishment of several semiconductor research institutes at universities to train talent during Tsai's term in office has driven the progress of Taiwan's semiconductor and high-tech industries.

Tsai is about to end her second and final four-year term on May 20.