TSMC, the Taiwanese fab plant and chipmaker, has approved a budget of US$3.8 billion (~RM17.4 billion) to build a new plant in the country of Germany. More specifically, the chipmaker is planning on erecting a new facility within the city of Dresden, which is located in Eastern Germany.
TSMC isn’t the only one chipping in for the construction of the plan. The company’s plant will also be flanked by German auto parts maker Bosch and semiconductor maker, Infineon, along with Dutch semiconductor brand, NXP. The total investment from all the companies tallies up to around US$11 billion (~RM50.3 billion).
The decision by TSMC to build a new plant comes after the European Union (EU) approved a new European Chips Act, where all member starts would provide a €43 billion (~RM215 billion) subsidy plan to entice brand to build facility, factories, and plants within EU countries, in order to double its chipmaking capacity by 2030.
Germany itself has been steadily setting itself up as a major location for semiconductor production in Europe, and is hoping to catch up with Asia and the US in that regard, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on chip supplies.
On that note, the new plant in Dresden would be the fourth plant TSMC has built outside of its home country of Taiwan. The chipmaker already has one plant in the US state of Arizona, with a second one already under construction in the same state. It is also building another plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan, with the help of the Japanese Electronics Conglomerate, Sony.
