[News] TSMC Reportedly Delays Second Kumamoto Fab Construction; 2027 Mass Production On Track

According to Commercial Times, citing Japanese media outlet TBS News, the construction of TSMC’s second fab in Kumamoto has reportedly been delayed, with the groundbreaking date pushed back from the originally planned “first quarter of 2025” to “sometime within 2025.”

However, the plant’s production timeline remains unchanged, and it is still expected to begin mass production by the end of 2027, as the report highlights.

The report from Commercial Times notes that TSMC responded by stating that its plans for building a second fab in Japan remain unchanged.

As noted by Asahi News and Yomiuri Shimbun, TSMC’s first fab in Kumamoto began mass production in December 2024. As TSMC’s first manufacturing base in Japan, the facility is expected to produce 22/28 nm and 12/16 nm nodes, with a planned monthly capacity of 55,000 wafers, as the report notes.

TSMC plans to build its second fab on a 321,000-square-meter site east of the first fab in Kumamoto, as the report from TBS News indicates. The second factory is expected to produce Japan’s most advanced 6-nanometer semiconductors.

Meanwhile, while the construction of TSMC’s second fab in Kumamoto has been delayed, according to a report by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), market sources indicate that TSMC may accelerate its plans for a third fab in Arizona, with groundbreaking expected in June.

TSMC’s first Arizona fab began mass production of 4nm chips in Q4 2024, while the second fab is expected to be operational by 2028, utilizing more advanced nodes such as 3nm, 2nm, and A16, depending on customer demand, as the report from CNA notes.

Read more

• [News] TSMC Sets Key Milestone in Japan as Kumamoto Fab Begins Mass Production
• [News] TSMC Reportedly Advancing Groundbreaking for Third Arizona Fab to June

(Photo credit: TSMC)