TSMC subsidiary to co-build $7.8b Singapore chip wafer plant

Photo credit: Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation

Singapore has bagged another tech giant investment as companies diversify their manufacturing amid the China-US chip war.

Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV is teaming up with Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), to build a US$7.8 billion chip wafer plant in Singapore, the companies announced.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of the year, with the companies aiming to make the initial batch of goods available to customers by 2027. The project is estimated to create 1,500 jobs.

Vanguard has pledged US$2.4 billion for the project in return for a 60% stake, with NXP contributing US$1.6 billion. Both parties have agreed to further invest a combined US$1.9 billion later on, while the rest of the funding will be obtained from third parties.

Bloomberg reported the new plant will primarily manufacture 12-inch silicon wafers, which will be the basis of 130-nanometer to 40-nanometer chips. These chips will be used for power control in automotive products, as well as for industrial, consumer, and mobile products.

The wafers are a more advanced variant than the 8-inch ones Vanguard produces at its existing Singapore plant. However, they won’t be usable for highly coveted chips like the 1-nanometer chip TSMC is developing in Taiwan.

Just last year, US-based semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries opened a production plant in Singapore to similarly build silicon wafers. Nvidia also announced plans to beef up its AI efforts in the city-state.

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