Asia Tech Wire (Oct 17) -- TSMC's second Japanese factory will break ground in Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, within the year.

TSMC's second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture is due to break ground within 2024 and go into operation in 2027, said Yuichi Horita, president of TSMC's Japanese subsidiary JASM, in a speech in Fukuoka on Wednesday.

He said preparations are progressing as planned, and that the company has managed to secure human resources.

The second factory will come up on the east side of the first factory, which started mass production in December.

According to TSMC's plan, the new factory will join the first factory in producing semiconductors with 6nm to 40nm process.

However, TSMC mentioned in its earnings onference on Thursday that the company plans to begin construction of its second Japanese fab in the first quarter of 2025.

TSMC said the second fab will support the company's strategic customers in consumer, automotive, industrial and HPC-related applications.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) pointed out that TSMC's second plant in Kumamoto has a land area of about 321,000 square meters, an increase of about 50% over its first plant, with an investment of about 2.2 trillion yen.