Inside TSMC's 12-inch fab (Image: TSMC)
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
No other company plays as critical a role in chip production as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and none is as sought after today by governments and customers seeking economic advantages and supply stability. For many reasons, India should be at the top of TSMC’s list for new fab locations.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. (TSMC) prides itself on basing its capital expenditure decisions on anticipated or verifiable customer needs. Geopolitics and supply security have taken a hammer to that policy.
This explains why TSMC is today adding fabs in Germany, Japan and US. It is also why India, which had for long expressed a desire for local chip plants, is now likely to get its wish. Whether TSMC will be the first player to step into India’s apparent void remains to be seen, however.