TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is working on seven new plants in 2024 based on strong demand from sectors like high-performance computing (HPC), reports said Thursday (May 23).

The world’s largest contract chipmaker had the manager of Fab 18 in Tainan unveil the plans at a TSMC Taiwan Technology Symposium, per CNA. The company will build three fabs and two advanced packaging facilities in Taiwan, and two overseas fabs, according to Huang Yuan-kuo (黃遠國).

Compared to the previous year, TSMC’s three-nanometer chip production capacity is set to increase threefold during 2024, he said. The sharp expansion was a result of demand from smartphones and HPC.

Construction work on new fabs in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung began in 2022. They will start 2nm chip production in 2025, Huang said.

Advanced packaging factories are also being built at the Central Taiwan Science Park and in Chiayi. The former will begin production of Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) products in 2025, while the latter will manufacture both CoWoS and Small Outline Integrated Circuit (SOIC) technologies in 2026.

TSMC’s international plans included the 4nm fab now under construction in Arizona, which is scheduled to start mass production in 2025, while a second facility will make even more advanced chips in 2028. The new factory in Kumamoto, Japan, is scheduled to start production during the final quarter of 2024. The construction of a plant in Dresden, Germany, would begin by the end of the year, with production slated to start in 2027.