Caixin Media News on September 24th: On September 23rd, local time in Peking, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor, stated that the company currently does not have specific plans for new overseas investments.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Taiwan Semiconductor and another chip giant Samsung Electronics have discussed plans to build a large chip factory in the United Arab Emirates, with estimated costs exceeding $100 billion. Based on the preliminary terms of the proposal, these projects will be funded by the United Arab Emirates, with Mubadala, one of the UAE's three major sovereign wealth funds, playing a key role.

The construction and maintenance costs of wafer fabs are extremely high, with the construction of an advanced manufacturing plant potentially requiring hundreds of billions of dollars.

In response to The Wall Street Journal's report, Taiwan Semiconductor stated on the 23rd that the company always welcomes constructive discussions that promote the development of the semiconductor industry. Taiwan Semiconductor is currently focusing on its existing global deployment plans and does not have any specific plans for new overseas investments.

The Wall Street Journal's report points out that Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics face significant technical and political obstacles when building a factory in the UAE. On the one hand, chip manufacturing requires a large amount of ultra-pure water, while the water in the UAE is mainly produced from desalination of seawater, which does not meet the requirements and needs further purification.

Ultra-pure water is mainly used for wafer cleaning. It is used to clean wafers that have undergone etching, removing solutions such as hydrofluoric acid residues from the wafer surface.

On the other hand, Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics have both discussed new projects in the UAE with the US government. US officials are concerned that advanced chips produced locally could be transported to competitor countries.

Taiwan Semiconductor is currently building factories in Arizona, USA, Dresden, Germany, and Kumamoto, Japan.

Among them, the first wafer fab in Kumamoto is scheduled to start mass producing 12nm, 16nm, 22nm, and 28nm chips in the fourth quarter of this year, the Arizona factory plans to start production of 4nm chips in the first half of next year, while the Dresden factory is scheduled to start production in 2027.

At a time of increased geopolitical uncertainty, both the USA and Europe have introduced their own 'Chip Acts' to support their local semiconductor industries, with Taiwan Semiconductor, which has the most advanced technology globally, naturally becoming a key target for them to attract.

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates also aims to become a significant hub for the global semiconductor industry. In February this year, media reported that OpenAI CEO Altman discussed with investors from the UAE and other places a plan to establish a chip network, with potential investments of up to 5 to 7 trillion US dollars.

Editor/Lambor