In Hsinchu, a sign for the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) Research and Development Center can be seen.
As it inaugurated a massive new research and development facility in the northern city of Hsinchu on Friday, chip giant TSMC stated its intention to “keep its roots in Taiwan.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) controls more than half of the world’s production of microchips, which power everything from coffee machines and smartphones to cars and missiles.
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The majority of its manufacturing facilities are located in Hsinchu, where state-of-the-art facilities produce ever-smaller silicon wafers, whose demand has skyrocketed due to the recent growth in AI-related technology.
Mark Liu, chairman of the company, stated at the launch of its R&D facility on Friday that the center will “actively develop world-leading technologies in the semiconductor industry to explore 2-nanometer and 1.4-nanometer technology.”
The company is racing to initiate mass production of the 1.4-nanometer chip, which is smaller than a fingernail, before its rival, Samsung, the second-largest producer in the world.
Its production lines have expanded beyond Taiwan as Western powers have expressed concern about the vital industry being centered on an island that China claims as its territory and have increased political pressures against it over the past year.
However, TSMC’s CEO, CC Wei, stated on Friday that the company intends to retain its technological core in Taiwan.
“We want to use this opportunity to demonstrate to the Taiwanese people TSMC’s commitment to maintaining its Taiwanese roots,” Wei said.
“We have heard voices expressing concern over whether TSMC is shifting its focus overseas and whether it is ceasing development in Taiwan. “We must say ‘no’,” he stated.
With the opening of the global R&D center, we are announcing to the Taiwanese that our origins will remain in Taiwan.
Due to a lack of qualified workers, a planned Arizona plant—one of the largest foreign investments in the United States—has been delayed until 2025, dealing a blow to the White House’s plans to increase chip production in the United States.
TSMC has attributed the delay to a dearth of skilled laborers and stated that Taiwanese technicians will be dispatched to help train the foundry staff.
The company faces comparable challenges as it investigates the possibility of establishing a plant in Dresden, citing concerns about talent shortages in Germany.
In the past year, TSMC’s global profile has exploded, largely as a result of the United States announcement of comprehensive restrictions designed to cut off Beijing’s access to high-end chips, chipmaking equipment, and software used to design semiconductors.
Beijing has retaliated with similar measures, restricting sales of chips manufactured by the American behemoth Micron and requiring licenses for exports of rare minerals essential to the production of semiconductors.
In the middle is self-governed Taiwan, the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing center, which China considers its own territory and has sworn to retake one day by any means necessary.
