TSMC’s Japanese chip factory had its ribbon cutting ceremony in Kumamoto last week. The plant was built with significantly less difficulty than TSMC’s Arizona plant despite being relatively quiet in the news. Though that should come as no surprise as culturally in both work and lifestyle, Taiwan and Japan are far more compatible with each other than any other country TSMC is trying to work with.
It doesn’t stop there however as Samsung has also announced plans to expand their Yokohama branch, NTT SkHynix Intel announced joint ventures and Rapidus will also open a chip factory in Chitose Hokkaido with plans to develop a tech hub in that region.
It seems that this whole thing is motivated by a shift to push chip manufacturing out of areas of political conflict. Taiwan has China to deal with, South Korea has North Korea to deal with. I guess I the Northeast Asia Bloc, Japan just seems to be the most “friendly with everyone.”
by c00750ny3h