TSMC, the world’s largest chip maker, says it has no concrete plans to build a new factory in Europe. In the US, the price tag of those plans is now rising.
TSMC makes chips for other chip vendors like AMD or Nvidia. In recent days, there have been trading talks between Taiwan, the company’s home country, and the European Union, with Taiwan indicating that it wants to remain a trusted partner of Europe.
The chip shortage and more cooperation there were also on the agenda. By 2030, Europe wants to significantly boost chip production on its own territory and was able to attract investments from Intel for this purpose, among other things.
But at TSMC this has not yet resulted in concrete plans, Reuters reports. At the annual shareholders’ meeting, the company stated that nothing is currently being ruled out, but that there are also no concrete plans. A possible site in Germany was looked at last year, but that plan has not become more concrete in the meantime.
In the US, TSMC has meanwhile announced an expansion in 2020, where Sony is investing 12 billion dollars together in a new chip factory in Arizona. It was also stated at the shareholders’ meeting that the costs for this would increase, but they were not insurmountable.