World's largest semiconductor producer Taiwan TSMC considers building a second factory in Japan

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

半導体生産で世界最大手 台湾TSMC 日本に2番目の工場建設検討

2023年1月12日 20時40分

半導体の受託生産で世界最大手の台湾のTSMCは、日本で2番目となる半導体工場の建設を検討していることを明らかにしました。

これは会社が12日、オンラインで開いた決算発表の記者会見で魏哲家CEOが明らかにしました。

魏CEOは「日本で2番目の工場の建設を検討している」と述べ、条件として「顧客の需要と政府の支援が合理的な水準であること」を挙げました。

TSMCは現在、日本で初めての工場をソニーグループなどと共同で熊本県に建設中で、来年末までに量産を始める予定です。

TSMCは各国から工場建設の誘致を受けていて先月、アメリカのアリゾナ州で最先端の半導体を生産する工場を新たに建設すると発表しています。

一方、TSMCの去年1年間の決算は、売り上げが前の年より42.6％多い2兆2638億台湾元、およそ9兆8000億円、最終的な利益は前の年より70.4％多い1兆165億台湾元、およそ4兆4000億円で、いずれも過去最高を更新しました。

Translation

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract manufacturer of semiconductors, revealed that it was considering building a second semiconductor factory in Japan.

This was announced by CEO CC Wei at the company's online financial results announcement press conference on the 12th.

CEO Wei said, ``We are considering building a second factory in Japan,'' and cited ``a reasonable level of customer demand and government support'' as a condition.

TSMC was currently constructing Japan's first factory in Kumamoto Prefecture jointly with the Sony Group and others, and planned to start mass production by the end of next year.

TSMC had received invitations to build factories from various countries, and last month announced that it would build a new factory to produce state-of-the-art semiconductors in Arizona, USA.

On the other hand, TSMC's financial results for last year showed sales of NT$2.2638 trillion, about 9.8 trillion yen, up 42.6% from the previous year, and the final profit was 1.0165 trillion yuan, about 4.4 trillion yen, up 70.4% from the previous year, both of which were new record highs.

              So, Taiwan's TSMC has revealed that it is considering building a second semiconductor factory in Japan. It seems that the company is diversifying its production centre away from Taiwan and I am wondering if this is a response to the tense situation caused by threats from mainland China.