The global semiconductor shortage, which caused production slowdowns and increased prices in the automotive industry, has been alleviated as major wafer foundries now have a more abundant production capacity to dispatch and produce automotive chips. As a result, TSMC's new European plant has been delayed by two years and will not start until 2025 at the earliest.
Reasons for Delay
The Taiwan Economic Daily reported that TSMC is considering that the supply and demand of automotive semiconductors will no longer be seriously tight. Most automotive chip customers can transfer to new factories in Japan, the United States, and other places for production. Therefore, the construction of new European plants has been delayed.
TSMC's Response
Regarding the delay in the pace of the new European factory, TSMC stated that it will maintain the previous opinion at the law conference, and there is currently no updated response. TSMC revealed at the law conference in January this year that it is in contact with customers and partners, and will evaluate the establishment of a special process fab in Europe focusing on automotive technology based on customer needs and the support status of governments in various countries.
Impact on the Industry
Industry experts point out that TSMC's European automotive chip customers may remain in TSMC's Taiwan plant, or even transfer to new plants in Japan and the United States. This will help TSMC make full use of overseas plant capacity. Moreover, if TSMC's deployment in Europe slows down, it's not a bad thing, especially because the market fluctuates greatly, coupled with high inflation pressure. The cost of setting up factories in Europe is estimated to be much higher than that in the United States and Japan. It will also affect TSMC's overseas deployment of manpower, causing more tests.
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