What you need to know
- TSMC and Sony entered a joint venture to create a $7 billion fab in Japan.
- The fab will focus on producing chips built with the 22 and 28nm processes.
- Chips aren't expected to be mass-produced at the fab until 2024.
Sony and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced that they will jointly build a $7 billion fab in Japan. Back in October 2021, TSMC announced plans to build the fab, but the move required board approval. That has since been acquired, and the plan is to have the new fab running by 2024.
The manufacturing plant will focus on making chips with older technologies, such as those built with the 22 and 28nm processes. Producing these types of chips will help the struggling automotive industry and other sectors that have been hit by the ongoing global chip shortage.
TSMC and Sony will operate the plant as a joint venture. Sony will have over a 20% equity stake as a result of investing $500 million. The remaining 80% of the costs will be covered by TSMC. As reported by ZDNet, the joint venture between Sony and TSMC will be known as Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM).
During a recent earnings call, the TSMC CEO, C. C. Wei, predicted that chip capacity would continue to be "tight" into 2022.
"While the global semiconductor shortage is expected to be prolonged, we expect partnership with TSMC to contribute to securing a stable supply of logic wafers, not only for us but also for the overall industry," said Sony Semiconductor Solutions CEO and president Terushi Shimizu.
In other chip-related news, TSMC and several other tech giants recently responded to a request from the U.S. government for information that will help end the ongoing chip shortage.
