TSMC's IC packaging, testing plant to become operational in mid-2021

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) A new high-end integrated circuit packaging and testing plant planned by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in Miaoli County is expected to start operations in mid-2021, according to County Magistrate Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌).

In a recent posting on his Facebook page, Hsu said TSMC, the world's largest pure wafer foundry operator, will invest NT$303.2 billion (US$10.11 billion) to build the IC packaging and testing plant, the largest ever single investment in the county.

However, TSMC declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal, while a company board meeting on May 12 approved a spending plan worth NT$168.2 billion as part of its investment in the future.

Hsu said construction of the plant, which will be built in the Chunan section of Hsinchu Science Park, northern Taiwan, is scheduled to be completed in May 2021, and operations will start in mid-2021, adding the investment is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs and boost prosperity in the area.

The county magistrate said TSMC has stepped up preparations for the new Chunan investment plan, and has been meeting with county government officials, with a meeting scheduled for mid-June to brief on the construction of the plant.

In November 2019, TSMC passed an environmental impact assessment of the new investment by Miaoli County Government.

The plant is part of TSMC's aggressive move into high-end IC packaging and testing services to provide one-stop shopping services for clients who buy chips requiring advanced 3D IC packaging and testing technology.

According to TSMC, the company already operates advanced IC packaging and testing plants in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan.

In a separate statement TSMC said it has launched the world's first 7 nanometer Automotive Design Enablement Platform (ADEP), which will accelerate time-to-design for customers' Artificial Intelligence Inferencing Engines, Advanced Driver-assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving applications.

Following mass production of its advanced 7nm process in 2018, the launch of ADEP demonstrates the chipmaker's industry-leading yield learning and quality assurance experience, TSMC said. It also enables the company to deliver on increased demand for leading-edge processes to fulfill the high computational needs of automotive applications.

"TSMC is uniquely positioned with our 7nm experience and comprehensive design ecosystem to unleash our customers' innovations and achieve first-time silicon success while meeting the rigorous demands of bringing safer and smarter vehicles to market," Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president of research & development and technology development at TSMC, said in the statement.