Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, will add four advanced packaging (AP) plants, Taiwan media including the Liberty Times reported on the 19th.
According to sources, Hou Yong-qing, TSMC senior vice president and deputy co-chief operating officer (COO), is set to announce on the 22nd the addition of four advanced AP plants in the Hsinchu Science Park and the Southern Taiwan Science Park's Tainan area.
The source said TSMC will begin mass production in the first AP plant (P2) in the Hsinchu Science Park in the first half of this year and bring in equipment for the second plant (P2).
The source added that in AP8, a plant remodeled from the facility of Innolux, a panel maker under Taiwan's Foxconn Group acquired in 2024, the company has begun production using the advanced packaging technology "chip on wafer on substrate (CoWos)."
The source said that due to a shortage in CoWos production, TSMC plans to add two AP plants each in the Hsinchu Science Park and the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
The source also said TSMC's move aims in part to allay concerns that, amid a weakening of the "silicon shield (semiconductor shield)" caused by recent U.S. plant expansion, Taiwan's TSMC could transform into "America's TSMC (ASMC)."
Earlier, on the 17th, Chinese-language outlets including the Central News Agency reported that after the United States and Taiwan reached a deal on reciprocal tariff talks, U.S. Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick said in a CNBC interview, "The goal is to bring 40% of Taiwan's entire (semiconductor) supply chain and production volume to the United States."
In response, Gong Ming-xin, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, said that based on processes of 5 nanometers (nm, one-billionth of a meter) and below, the industrial capacity split between Taiwan and the United States is expected to be 85% to 15% in 2030 and 80% to 20% in 2036.
On the 15th, the United States and Taiwan agreed to lower the U.S. reciprocal tariff rate on Taiwan to 15%, while Taiwan corporations and the government would provide $250 billion in direct investment and credit guarantees in the United States, respectively.