Handover of land to TSMC in expanded CTSP plan likely in mid-2024
Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) The land involved in the second phase of the expansion project at Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) is likely to be handed over to companies that plan to move there in mid-2024, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said Tuesday.
In October, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said in a hearing held at the Legislative Yuan that a parcel of land in the CTSP expansion project has been designated for use by TSMC, which is keen to upgrade its technologies and expand production to maintain the company's lead over its peers in the global pure play wafer foundry market.
In a statement, the MOI said its urban planning committee has approved the CTSP expansion project, with the objective being to allow semiconductor firms in the local supply chain to build facilities.
The MOI said the committee recognizes that land expropriation is necessary for the expansion project in the science park and is for the public good, adding that the CTSP Bureau will start negotiations on land expropriation soon.
In response, the bureau said in a separate statement that it will ask Taichung City Government to issue a public notice to kick off the land expropriation process and expects the land to be handed over to those companies which want to develop establish businesses there by the end of June 2024.
According to the CTSP Bureau, the land expansion project is 89.75 hectares in size and will be used to increase production by the local semiconductor industry. Once IC firms from the upstream to downstream segments move in and start operations, about 4,500 new jobs will be created with production value expected to hit NT$485.7 billion (US$15.62 billion) a year.
The bureau said the expansion project in the science park is critical to the future of Taiwan's semiconductor business.
Earlier this month, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) told a hearing held by Taichung City Council that TSMC will build a fab in the second phase of CTSP expansion, using more advanced technology than the 2 nanometer process, though the chipmaker has never confirmed where its 1.4nm complex will be located.
It was initially thought TSMC would locate the new 1.4nm process factory in the Longtan section of Hsinchu Science Park after the park bureau announced in December 2022 that it would do so, though TSMC itself never commented on the announcement.
However, in October 2023, TSMC announced it had abandoned the Longtan plan amid strong opposition from many of the residents who would have been affected by the proposed land expropriation.
TSMC is developing the 2nm process which is scheduled to start mass production in the Baoshan sector of Hsinchu Science Park in 2025. The chipmaker also plans to roll out chips made on the 2nm process in Kaohsiung but no fixed timetable has been announced.
According to Taipei-based market advisory firm TrendForce Corp., TSMC further cemented its leading share of the global pure play wafer foundry market in the third quarter of 2023 by taking a 57.9 percent share of the market, up from 56.4 percent in the second quarter.
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