Tuesday, July 30th 2024
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TSMC Rumoured to Start Construction on German Fab Within the Next Few Weeks
After many back and forths, it now appears that TSMC is finally getting ready to start construction of its fab in Dresden, Germany. Multiple news outlets are reporting that TSMC is getting ready to start production on its new fab within the next few weeks, which is ahead of the expected Q4 groundbreaking. That said, TSMC has yet to announce an official date for a groundbreaking ceremony or a date when construction will start, but according to media reports TSMC's Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei will be in Germany at the end of August to sign documents with the German government and during this trip, the groundbreaking ceremony is expected to take place.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the Dresden fab is expected to start production sometime in late 2027, but it's far from a cutting edge fab, as it'll mainly be supplying the European automotive industry with components. The new fab should start its life with two different process technologies, namely a 28 or 22 nm planar CMOS node as well as a 16 or 12 nm FinFET node. The Dresden fab is said to have a production capacity of around 40,000 12-inch wafers monthly. The new fab is expected to be an investment in excess of €10 billion for TSMC, with the city of Dresden spending an additional €250 million for a special water supply system and enhancements to the power grid. Unlike similar projects, TSMC will not be the sole owner of the new fab, as Infineon, Robert Bosch and NXP are each taking a 10 percent stake in the fab.
Sources:
The Nikkei, Volksstimme
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the Dresden fab is expected to start production sometime in late 2027, but it's far from a cutting edge fab, as it'll mainly be supplying the European automotive industry with components. The new fab should start its life with two different process technologies, namely a 28 or 22 nm planar CMOS node as well as a 16 or 12 nm FinFET node. The Dresden fab is said to have a production capacity of around 40,000 12-inch wafers monthly. The new fab is expected to be an investment in excess of €10 billion for TSMC, with the city of Dresden spending an additional €250 million for a special water supply system and enhancements to the power grid. Unlike similar projects, TSMC will not be the sole owner of the new fab, as Infineon, Robert Bosch and NXP are each taking a 10 percent stake in the fab.
6 Comments on TSMC Rumoured to Start Construction on German Fab Within the Next Few Weeks
The parts involved done their math I'd edu-guess.
I think they wouldn't invest in the manufacturing of costlier flagship tech in a high cost & high bureaucratic region. I bet all other fabs have/will have lower production costs overall (JP, US, TW, China (obviously)).
But the center motive would be European's market/supply chain.
I don't think the world really needs a 15-year-old chip fab, but it certainly does need a copy of what TSMC is using in their home country right now... It's all just a tax con to get free money and benefit no one but buyers of luxury cars.
but hey, at least the euro-makers will get some more chips to work with, even though they aren't cutting edge :)