Taiwan’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, has been making efforts to expand beyond the island in recent years, taking into account the lessons of the pandemic and geopolitical circumstances. Its smaller rival UMC has also been involved in similar activity, having recently launched a new facility in Singapore.
Image source: UMC
This is UMC’s second facility in this area, its construction cost the company $5 billion, and it will manufacture advanced 28-nm and 22-nm products by the standards of this manufacturer. Among other things, the enterprise will manufacture display controllers, memory chips for smart devices and telecommunications components for third-party customers. UMC will begin producing pilot products at the new facility this year, but mass production will not be launched until next year.
The facility was originally scheduled to begin operations in 2024, but equipment installation delays and limited demand for additional capacity have forced the company to delay the launch of the new facility. The design capacity involves processing 30,000 silicon wafers per month. UMC is not alone in facing demand imbalances for chips made using mature process technologies. TSMC and ASE Technology are delaying expansion of specialized capacities in Japan and Malaysia, citing weak demand for automotive semiconductor components and chips for the industrial automation segment.
In addition to Taiwan and Singapore, UMC has plants in China and Japan. The new site in Singapore will help diversify production by geography. In the US, the company will start producing 12-nm products in cooperation with Intel in 2027. By that time, a joint venture between European NXP and Taiwanese VIS may be established in Singapore. American Micron Technology will also start producing advanced HBM memory in this country, so Singapore is in high demand in this regard, although it has a very limited area. Many high-ranking Singaporean officials attended the opening ceremony of the new UMC plant.