TSM.US denies plans to expand in Europe

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to relevant media reports quoting a senior Chinese official from Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM.US) plans to establish more factories in Europe, focusing on the AI chip market. However, this report was officially denied by TSMC.

“There may be some misunderstandings,” the company said in an email statement. “TSMC is still focused on our current global expansion projects and currently has no new investment plans.”

Wu Chengwen, chairman of Taiwan's “Science and Technology Committee”, did not disclose the timeline for the company's further expansion plans in Europe.

TSMC notes that the company is still focused on current global expansion projects and currently has no new investment plans.

Wu Chengwen said that the artificial intelligence market, which includes Nvidia (NVDA.US) and AMD (AMD.US) chips, will be the most important market segment, while other semiconductor companies with alternative designs may also provide opportunities for TSMC.

“Maybe they can work in the European market too, so TSMC is looking for this to plan their next few fabs,” Wu Chengwen added, pointing out that TSMC will need to review whether it needs to expand in the German city of Dresden or build in other parts of the European Union.

Wu Chengwen added that he also hopes to promote joint research and development projects between academia in Taiwan and the Czech Republic.

According to information, the Taiwanese chip maker has invested billions of dollars to build new factories in the US, Japan, and Germany.

In August of this year, the European Commission said it had approved Germany to provide 5 billion euros (5.5 billion US dollars) of state aid to support the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) to build and operate a new microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden. ESMC is a joint venture between TSMC, Bosch, NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.US), and Infineon Technologies (IFNNY.US). Earlier, TSMC indicated that the total investment is expected to exceed 10 billion euros (about 11 billion US dollars), including equity injections, debt loans, and help from the EU and German governments. The plant will be operated by TSMC.

Additionally, Wu Chengwen said he expects that no matter who wins the US presidential election in November, Taiwanese chip companies will face additional pressure to expand in the US.

Wu Chengwen added, “But in the long run, in my opinion, this may be a good thing for them because they can improve themselves.”

So far, TSMC has promised to invest more than $65 billion to build three facilities in Arizona.