TSMC announced that Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), a majority-owned manufacturing subsidiary of TSMC, will receive further investment from TSMC, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS), Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), and DENSO Corporation (DENSO).

The project gains strong support from the Japanese government, and Toyota will take a minority equity stake of 2.0%, while TSMC, SSS, and DENSO will hold equity stakes of 86.5%, 6.0%, and 5.5%, respectively. The funding will be used to construct a second semiconductor fabrication facility in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, which is expected to commence production by the end of 2027. Together with the investment used to fund JASM’s first fabrication facility set to begin manufacturing operations this year, the overall investment in JASM will total more than US$20Bn into the production of Japanese semiconductors.

Construction of the second fabrication facility is scheduled to begin by the end of this year in response to increasing customer demand. The production capacity of both facilities is expected to reach more than 100,000 12-inch wafers per month, utilising 40, 22/28, 12/16, and 6/7nm process technologies, with these wafers to be used in automotive, industrial, consumer, and HPC-related applications.

Despite global silicon wafer shipments for semiconductor applications decreasing by approximately 14.3% y-on-y in 2023, shipment volumes are expected to recover in 2024. With JASM’s first fabrication facility scheduled to begin production this year, TSMC will be well-positioned to respond to increasing demand. In addition, government support of TSMC’s expansion in Japan indicates support for onshore semiconductor manufacturing in line with the sentiments and actions of many countries in recent years.