Sony and TSMC Said to be Planning US$7 Billion Chip Fab in Japan

There doesn’t seem to be a single month where rumours about new TSMC plants around the world are popping up and this time around it looks like there might be a joint venture with Sony in Japan. According to the Nikkei, the Japanese government is likely to be involved and might foot as much as half of the US$7 billion bill.

Another much more unknown player, Japanese auto parts maker Denso is also said to be a potential participant in the new fab. Denso is said to supply Toyota among others and with a shift towards more EVs, this might not be such a strange move. The new fab is expected to be located in Kumamoto Prefecture on land owned by Sony. It should be noted that Sony already manufactures image sensors here and the factory was hit badly by a large earthquake back in 2016, which led to a global shortage of certain image sensors.

If the joint venture goes ahead, this would be TSMC’s first chip plant in Japan and also its first joint venture with Sony at this scale. The fab would, at least at the early stages, be focusing on image sensors, image processors and components for EVs, although as it’ll take a couple of years at least to build the fab, this isn’t set in stone. The Japanese government is said to be looking at getting a commitment from TSMC that chips made at the new fab will be prioritised for the Japanese market.