TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TSMC said Thursday it will build nine new facilities globally this year to meet surging demand for advanced process technologies and AI chips.

Speaking at Taiwan Technology Symposium in Hsinchu, TSMC Vice President of Operations Chang Tsung-sheng (張宗生) said the chipmaker is accelerating global expansion, with eight wafer fabs and one advanced packaging plant planned this year, per CNA. He said he expects AI chip shipments to multiply 12-fold between 2021 and this year.

Chang revealed plans to build five wafer fabs in Kaohsiung, supporting nm, A16 (1.6 nm), and beyond. Generally, the smaller the process the more advanced the chip.

In Taichung, construction on Fab 25 will begin by year-end, with plans to introduce technology beyond 2 nm by 2028. Chang did not disclose information on the other sites.

TSMC built an average of three new fabs annually from 2017 to 2020, and five per year from 2021 to 2024, per Liberty Times. The latest push marks a significant scale-up in capacity-building.

The company is also ramping up advanced packaging capacity. Between 2022 and 2026, it said its system-on-integrated-chip (SoIC) output will grow at a 100% compound annual rate, with chip-on-wafer-substrate (CoWoS) capacity expanding 80% yearly.

Chang said these expansions are vital to meet global demand for high-performance chips across AI and mobile applications.