by Peter Clarke, EETimes, Feb. 03, 2016 –
The Taiwanese government has given foundry chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) approval to build a 300mm wafer fab in China, according to reports that reference the Investment Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
TSMC already operates one fab in China, but until the latest ruling the Taiwan government forbade Taiwanese companies from owning and operating fabs that process the more cost efficient larger wafer size.
Taiwan announced a plan to invest about $3 billion in building a wafer fab in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China in December 2015. The facility is planned for a capacity of 20,000 wafer starts per month and would begin volume production of 16nm FinFETs in second half of 2018, but the plan was subject to Taiwan government approval. At the time TSMC chairman Morris Chang said such a move would provide closer support to TSMC's customers there and further expand the company's business opportunities.