TSMC Plans To Build 1 Nanometer Chip Facility

The semiconductor company TSMC is already planning for a time when chips with structure widths of one nanometer will be manufactured. The Longtan campus in the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan is currently being traded as a possible location.

“When choosing a manufacturing site, we consider a variety of factors. The company will continue to invest in advanced technologies in Taiwan,” a TSMC spokesman told the Taipei Times when it raised the issue of 1-nanometer manufacturing. The group already operates a plant for the packaging of semiconductor components at the site.

However, these plans are still in the future anyway. The production of 1-nanometer chips will be a few years away. TSMC is currently developing the 2-nanometer process technology, which it hopes to start mass-producing in 2025. Significant progress has already been made with the 3-nanometer processes, which are to be ramped up on a large scale this year.

Local government expands

The topic of 1-nanometer manufacturing came up after Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan said the local government is stepping up efforts to expand the Longtan campus to meet TSMC’s demand for space for more manufacturing facilities to satisfy. Currently, the area of ​​the Hsinchu Science Park is actually fully utilized and for further settlements, the local administration would need appropriate expansion activities.

This project has been under discussion for the past three years and government agencies have been more active in the last two years in expanding the park, including the purchase and/or expropriation of land and planning for utilities. While recently the main focus was on adding parks and green areas to the area, the planned third project phase with new industrial areas had attracted attention, as this effort could only be explained by the planning of a top-class user.