TSMC to spend $20bn on new state of the art plant

Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has committed $20bn to the construction of a new state of the art nanometre technology plant.

TSMC has taken the decision in the attempt to retain its title as the world’s biggest contract maker of chips, with the likes of Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. increasingly challenging the company’s leading role.

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The firm is best known for its role as the main assembler of mobile phone processors for Apple. However, to retain such contracts, TSMC is increasingly having to fork out on new advanced technologies, currently spending some $10bn annually, with Founder Morris Chang revealing that this may soon rise $11bn.

The three-nanometre technology plant will be the company’s most sophisticated yet, set to be designed for the manufacture of small transistors that will help chipmakers boost their product performance.

“By the time we’re through, by the time we’ve built all the necessary capacity, I think we would have spent upwards of $15bn. That’s a conservative estimate. Maybe it’s safer to say upwards of $20bn,” said Chang, speaking to Bloomberg.

TSMC’s shares have risen as much as 24% this year, largely due to high level of projected demand for Apple’s new iPhones and other products.