🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Merck’s €500 million plan rests on unclear capacity, customers

• Merck plans a €500 million materials site in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District, with output ramping in 2026. It gives no capacity by product line. That includes Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) precursors (the chemical compounds fed into deposition tools), specialty gases, or photoresists 1.
• Merck says it can cover 80% of Taiwan’s thin-film material demand 1. It did not say whether Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) signed long-term purchase (offtake) deals for the 2026 ramp.
• Analysts expect TSMC to add about 20,000 wafers per month of 3nm capacity in 2026 23. They see 2nm at 80,000 to 90,000 wafers per month by year-end 2. Merck has not shared capacity or timing, so the impact on bottlenecks that moved from Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging to front-end wafer capacity and key materials stays uncertain 2.

Materials suppliers’ Taiwan expansions create openings for EPC contractors and logistics firms

• Map rival buildouts in Taiwan for 2025 to 2026 to spot partners. Watch Entegris and DuPont. Also track Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK) and JSR Corporation (JSR), then add Air Products or Linde.
• Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) firms that build cleanrooms can chase Kaohsiung work. Hazmat logistics plus waste-treatment providers should time bids to tenders, then target primes to get in first.
• TSMC could spend $48 to $50 billion on capital expenditures (CapEx) in 2026, driven by 2nm expansion 2. Equipment rental, calibration services, or safety-compliance providers can capture follow-on revenue as materials suppliers ramp output.