Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would build three additional advanced packaging facilities in Phase II of the Chiayi Science Park (嘉義科學園區), National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Phase II, Wu said the roughly 90-hectare site would be developed into an advanced packaging industry cluster led by TSMC.
Two advanced packaging facilities at Phase I began mass production last month.
Photo: CNA
Wu said that the Phase II development of the Chiayi Science Park would strengthen the resilience of the regional economy and help transform Chiayi County into a global production hub for advanced semiconductor packaging.
In the future, biotechnology, aerospace and precision machinery companies would also gradually move in and build factories.
Once both phases are operational, companies with facilities at the Chiayi Science Park are expected to generate more than NT$300 billion (US$9.35 billion) in annual output and create 9,000 jobs, he said.
According to Wu, the Phase II expansion is aimed at meeting growing global demand for high-performance computing chips and advanced packaging technologies.
He said the Chiayi Science Park would connect with other Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) branches in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County as well as the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) to form the world’s most comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry corridor.
The groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by Wu and attended by Chiayi County Commissioner Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁), Democratic Progressive Party Legislators Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘), Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) and Wang Mei-hui (王美惠), as well as TSMC vice president for facility construction Arthur Chuang (莊子壽), various public works developers, construction companies and local representatives.
Separately, TSMC is scheduled to report its second-quarter revenue today and release its bottom-line figures for the quarter at an earnings conference on Thursday.
While Android handset sales slowed in the second quarter, sustained iOS pull-in orders and AI chip product transition still supported strong semiconductor demand in the quarter, which is expected to lift TSMC’s second-quarter revenue slightly above the upper-end of its guidance range of between US$39 billion and US$40.2 billion, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note on Tuesday last week.
In New Taiwan dollar terms, TSMC’s second-quarter revenue is forecast to reach NT$1.276 trillion, up 12.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and rising 36.7 percent year-on-year, Yuanta said.
Gross margin is projected to reach 67.5 percent, the upper-end of TSMC’s guidance range of between 65.5 and 67.5 percent, with earnings per share estimated at NT$24.1, it said.
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