TSMC is reportedly waiting on an invitation from the Japanese government to open up a chip plant on the latter’s soil. On top of that, the invite by Japan could see the foundry, along with other advanced chip manufacturers open up joint plant around Japan.
According to Reuters, the Japanese government could offer the Taiwan-based foundry several hundred billion Yen, over period of several years. As to why the Japanese government would initiate this, it is likely that country is hoping to tap into the expertise of some of the best chipmakers and resurrect its former status as global player in advanced chip technology.
At the time of writing, Reuters is unable to provide a timeline for the alleged project and unsurprisingly, TSMC denies that such an invitation exists. The validity of the invitation notwithstanding, it’s both understandable and easy to see why the possibility of a factory in Japan would be feasible; as the US doubles down on its trade sanctions against China, many companies – both US and non-US – that have factories within China. Have begun looking at places in other countries in the hopes of opening up a new plant.
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Case in point, TSMC was reportedly in talks with the US to open a plant within the state of Arizona. Additionally, Samsung closed down its mobile phone production plant in China last year, while Google also moved one of its manufacturing plant in the country out to neighbouring Vietnam.
(Source: Reuters)
