TSMC Breaks Ground for First Twelve-Inch Fab in Hsin-Chu

Business Wire, Dec 16, 1999

HSIN-CHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1999--

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) held a groundbreaking ceremony in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park (HSIP) this morning, heralding construction of the company's first 12-inch (300-mm) wafer fab. The new fab, known as Fab 12, is now officially under construction, with first wafer production scheduled to begin in early 2002.

The groundbreaking ceremony was hosted by F.C. Tseng, president of TSMC. "TSMC is dedicated to the pursuit of new technology development and capacity expansion, thereby sustaining our leadership position, increasing barriers to competition, and providing the best dedicated foundry services for our customers worldwide," said FC Tseng. "At an investment of more than $2 billion U.S. dollars, Fab12 will serve both as a fabrication base and a leading-edge research and development center.

"In addition," FC Tseng continued, "we have scheduled a groundbreaking for Fab 7 in the Tainan Science-Based Park in early 2000. Also, our capacity next year is expected to increase by approximately 50 percent."

Construction of Fab 12 is expected to be complete within two years. The superstructure is expected to be finished by the end of year 2000, followed by the installation of the cleanroom. Equipment move-in will begin in the year 2001, with mass production commencing in early 2002. Fab 12 will pilot run with 0.15/0.13um process technology, and then evolve to 0.1um. Fab 12 is expected to produce a variety of logic, memory, and chip set products, and the total capacity will reach 25,000 12-inch wafers per month. Some additional Fab 12 capacity will be reserved for research and development of the new 0.1um and more advanced process technology.

TSMC Fab 12 shares its fabrication site with TSMC's affiliate, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, on 40-hectares of land in HSIP Phase III. Even though the two companies will build their own 12-inch fabs to different time schedules, TSMC and Vanguard have put into consideration a joint plant designed to provide each other with mutual support on Logic and DRAM fabrication, production capacity, and facility engineering.

About TSMC

TSMC is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the industry's leading process technology, library and IP options and other leading-edge foundry services. TSMC operates five eight-inch wafer fabs (Fab 3, 4, 5, TASMC and WaferTech), and two six-inch wafer fabs (Fabs 1 and 2). In addition, the company is ramping Fab 6, located in Tainan Taiwan, for production and has begun construction of a $1.2 billion joint venture fab with Philips Semiconductor, which is scheduled to open in Singapore in 2000. TSMC has broken ground for a new 12-inch wafer fabrication facility in Hsin-Chu and will soon break ground for fab 7 in Tainan, which will be the companies sixth eight-inch fab. In year 2000, TSMC will have the capacity for nearly 3 million 8-inch equivalent wafers. Fabrication processes offered by TSMC include CMOS logic, mixed-mode, volatile and non-volatile memory, and BiCMOS. TSMC's corporate headquarters are in Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. More information about TSMC is available through the World Wide Web at http://www.tsmc.com.