"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" website published on June 10 entitled "What is the semiconductor investment fever that makes Taiwan boil? " report. It is reported that Taiwan is setting off an unprecedented wave of semiconductor investment. The United States has repeatedly invited Taiwanese manufacturers and the Taiwan authorities to negotiate to locate factories in the United States and establish a new supply chain, but Taiwan has not given in. The only trump card that Taiwan can negotiate with the United States is semiconductors. This sense of crisis may be one reason for the investment boom. The full text is excerpted as follows:
Taiwan is setting off an unprecedented semiconductor investment boom. This is a huge investment with a total amount of 16 trillion yen (1 yen is about 0.05 yuan - this website note), and there is no precedent in the world.
In Tainan, an important city in southern Taiwan, in mid-May we visited the Southern Science Park where Taiwan's largest semiconductor production base is located. Heavy trucks for construction frequently come and go, cranes are constantly hoisting wherever they go, and the construction of multiple semiconductor factories is progressing rapidly at the same time.
This is the main production base of the world's semiconductor giant TSMC. Centered on semiconductors for iPhones in the United States, it is known as a gathering place for the world's most advanced factories, and TSMC has just built four new factories recently.
But it still doesn't seem to be enough. TSMC is also building new factories for cutting-edge products at multiple locations in the surrounding area, accelerating the centralization of the base. Judging from the new semiconductor factories built by TSMC, the investment in each factory is at least 1 trillion yen.
This fast-paced situation is not limited to TSMC, and the scenario has now expanded to all of Taiwan.
"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" investigated the investment status of various semiconductor companies in Taiwan. At least at present, there are 20 factories in Taiwan that are under construction or have just started construction. The site also extends from Xinbei and Hsinchu in the north to Tainan and Kaohsiung in the southernmost area, with an investment of 16 trillion yen.
There is no precedent in the industry to make such a large investment all at once. The investment of TSMC's new factory under construction in Arizona and the factory that has decided to enter Kumamoto, Japan is about 1 trillion yen. From this, it can be seen how much the investment of 16 trillion yen is in Taiwan's entire semiconductor industry. huge.
Taiwan's semiconductor production has led the world. In particular, cutting-edge semiconductors, more than 90% of which are produced in Taiwan. In the future, if all 20 new factories start mass production, the world's dependence on Taiwan semiconductors will undoubtedly increase further. The United States attaches importance to the over-reliance on Taiwan for semiconductors, and is concerned that geopolitical uncertainty will increase risks to global supply chains.
In fact, in February 2021, when the shortage of semiconductors began to become serious, US President Biden signed a presidential decree on supply chains such as semiconductors, requiring relevant departments to speed up the formulation of policies to strengthen the resilience of semiconductor procurement in the future.
Later, the U.S. authorities, mainly TSMC, invited Taiwanese manufacturers and the Taiwan authorities many times to negotiate to locate factories in the United States and establish a new supply chain, but progress has been slow for more than a year. The reason is that Taiwan has not made concessions.
One of the reasons is that Taiwan has a strong sense of crisis. Against the backdrop of mounting pressure to unify mainland China, Taiwan's "diplomacy" now relies almost entirely on the United States. In this case, the only trump card that Taiwan can negotiate with the United States is semiconductors.
If even semiconductors make concessions to the United States, Taiwan will have no "diplomatic" trump card.
Perhaps this sense of crisis is one of the reasons for this investment boom. No matter how worried the world is about geopolitical risks, Taiwan now has no room for concern.
A person in Taiwan's semiconductor industry said: "Taiwan, where semiconductor production is so concentrated, the world cannot give up."
For Taiwan, the biggest defense weapon may no longer be the weapon provided by the United States, but its own cutting-edge semiconductor factory. Huge investments that Taiwan considers a matter of life and death are quietly accelerating across Taiwan.
Post time: Jun-13-2022