Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world’s largest contract chip maker, last week received the go-ahead from the Taiwan government to transfer 0.18-micron chip production technology for use at its plant near Shanghai.
TSMC had waited for more than two years to get approval to transfer the 0.18-micron technology to its Chinese plant, which currently uses 0.25-micron and 0.35-micron process technologies. The number describes the size of the smallest feature that can be created using a production process.
“TSMC welcomes the decision and believes that it will help our competitiveness in the China market,” the Hsinchu, Taiwan, company said in a statement.
TSMC also pledged to continue investing in its operations in Taiwan, including building additional factories that make chips using 300-millimeter wafers and investments in 65-nanometer (0.065-micron), 45 -nanometer (0.045-micron), and 32-nanometer (0.032-micron) production processes.
The 0.25-micron process technology is several generations behind the most advanced chip production technologies used by TSMC at its plants in Taiwan. Chinese chip makers, such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., in China, also manufacture some chips using a 90-nanometer (0.09-micron) process.
Taiwan’s government has been slow to liberalize regulations that limit what semiconductor manufacturing technologies can be transferred to China, fearing the island’s chip industry could move across the Taiwan Strait. There are also political concerns at play. Taiwan and China separated in 1949 after a civil war, and China has repeatedly threatened to attack Taiwan if the island formally declares independence.
However, Taiwan has eased restrictions in recent weeks, approving two more applications by Taiwanese companies to set up chip plants in China, and giving its approval to another company’s planned investment in a chip packaging company.
