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Taiwan's Powerchip chooses northern Japan for planned $5.4 billion fab

Daniel Nenni

Daniel Nenni

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp's Japanese business in pictured in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) -Taiwanese chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings said on Tuesday they have selected Miyagi prefecture in northern Japan as the location for a planned $5.4 billion foundry.

While the project has yet to receive government subsidies, Reuters reported this month that talks were progressing in what would become the latest commitment by Taiwanese chipmakers to manufacturing in Japan.

Taiwan's TSMC has become increasingly positive about Japan as a base for production, Reuters reported last month, with construction of its new fab on track and the chipmaker seeing the local workforce as industrious.

"Japan has to have its own supply chain," Powerchip founder and Chairman Frank Huang told reporters.
"The cost structure (in Taiwan and Japan) is not too far from each other," he said.

Powerchip said it aimed to manufacture micro-controllers and power chips, which are needed for power management in electric vehicles, along with chips for artificial intelligence.

In the first $2.8 billion phase, planned for 2027, the foundry will manufacture chips using 40-nanometre and 55-nanometre technology with targeted monthly output of 10,000 wafers.

The second phase, planned for two years later, aims to introduce 28-nanometre technology with targeted monthly output of 40,000 wafers.

The foundry will be located at an industrial park that has abundant land, water and power neighbouring the major regional city of Sendai, the companies said.
They aim to cut costs by making reference to plans for a Powerchip fab being built in Taiwan, and discussions are already taking place with construction firms.
Powerchip and SBI announced its plan to build a fab in July and received proposals from more than 30 local governments from the northern island of Hokkaido to the major chipmaking centre of Kyushu, the two companies said.

Japan is seeing a flurry of investment in chipmaking as the government offers generous subsidies to companies such as homegrown foundry venture Rapidus and TSMC.

www.yahoo.com

Taiwan's Powerchip chooses northern Japan for planned $5.4 billion fab

TOKYO (Reuters) -Taiwanese chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings said on Tuesday they have selected Miyagi prefecture in northern Japan as the location for a planned $5.4 billion foundry. While the project has yet to receive government...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
I have no clue where all of this 28nm demand has been coming from. Maybe TSMC is de-ramping the oodles of obsolete mature fabs to get customers to move onto 28nm? Because looking at the long term, it doesn't feel like auto will cause the global 28nm demand to double. So far we've got UMC, TSMC, SMIC, Powerchip, and I think GF building out/converting new 28nm fabs. The euro IDMs also seem to be expanding at 28nm, and TI is having a huge 300mm build/buy out.
 
nghanayem said:
I have no clue where all of this 28nm demand has been coming from. Maybe TSMC is de-ramping the oodles of obsolete mature fabs to get customers to move onto 28nm? Because looking at the long term, it doesn't feel like auto will cause the global 28nm demand to double. So far we've got UMC, TSMC, SMIC, Powerchip, and I think GF building out/converting new 28nm fabs. The euro IDMs also seem to be expanding at 28nm, and TI is having a huge 300mm build/buy out.
Click to expand...

Do you think those 45/55nm chips will move to 28nm in the future？
 
nghanayem said:
I have no clue where all of this 28nm demand has been coming from. Maybe TSMC is de-ramping the oodles of obsolete mature fabs to get customers to move onto 28nm? Because looking at the long term, it doesn't feel like auto will cause the global 28nm demand to double. So far we've got UMC, TSMC, SMIC, Powerchip, and I think GF building out/converting new 28nm fabs. The euro IDMs also seem to be expanding at 28nm, and TI is having a huge 300mm build/buy out.
Click to expand...

28nm is the last of the CMOS nodes so it will be a very long node but I agree, too much capacity means price war which is good for customers but profits will suffer. TSMC has a clear cost advantage so let the other fabs beware. Automotive is a single digit business for TSMC and I don't see that changing.
 
Daniel Nenni said:
Japan is a key political ally. Taiwan extending the silicon shield over Japan is a good thing.
Click to expand...
They are spending plenty here in Singapore also , UMC FAB expansion look close to completion and Vangaurd say they are going to expand also here.
 
What is PSMC? A foundry of some size and scale, but with trailing edge capabilities. They were solely in Hsinchu, Taiwan or environs. Japan is their first foreign fab, and 6th fab overall. Their fourth 300mm fab.

Services | PSMC

www.powerchip.com www.powerchip.com

The technology list ends at 55nm for now.

They have automotive certification, which is hard to get, and indicates good quality despite trailing edge capabilities.
 
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) products, in particular memory chips and other integrated circuits. As of 2020, the company was the 7th largest semiconductor foundry in the world with three 12 inch and two 8 inch wafer labs.[1] The company offers foundry services as well as design, manufacturing and test services. It was formerly known as Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and changed its name in June 2010. Powerchip Technology Corporation was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

en.wikipedia.org

Powerchip - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
tonyget said:
Do you think those 45/55nm chips will move to 28nm in the future？
Click to expand...

For long there was no satisfactory eFLASH, mixed signal, and HV offer on 28nm. Cost-benefit needs to be huge to justify the move.

Very few MCUs need that high performance available on sub-40nm.

40 has tons of available and portable IP. It has non-MP design flow. It's a cookie cutter node of choice for decades to come
 
Already growing fab capacity at 28nm in Japan from TSMC and PSMC alone. China already growing capacity domestically at 28 nm and higher. Looks like an overbuildout starting for 28nm..
 
I love 40nm. The layer stack is terrific, and poly is flexible. Improvements in packaging and HBM provides an advantage in making die larger to accommodate more pads. I am glad TSMC is going to support 55/40.
 
cliff said:
I love 40nm. The layer stack is terrific, and poly is flexible. Improvements in packaging and HBM provides an advantage in making die larger to accommodate more pads. I am glad TSMC is going to support 55/40.
Click to expand...

And most importantly. You can largely do 40nm with a 10 years old pirated Cadence, thus most of Indian design shops can work with that.

1699127211179.png
 
PSMC owns about 20% of Nexchip, a foundry at China. People used to think Nexchip is a subsidiary of PSMC, as it was built and ran by PSMC. However, during IPO application of Nexchip, they clarified that nexchip is owned by funds controlled by the China gov't.
 
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