To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu.

    -----------------------------------------------

     This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,

     located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.

    -----------------------------------------------

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) today held a ceremony in Taichung?s Central Taiwan Science Park for Phase 3 of its Fab 15 GigaFab, equipped for 20nm process technology.

Fab 15, Phase 3 will be TSMC's second GigaFab equipped for 20nm process technology, and the company's third "green fab" following Fab 12 and Fab 14.

Fab 15, Phase 3 will have a capacity of 40,000 300mm (12-inch) wafers per month, and it wil produce application processors (APs), baseband, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

TSMC began construction on Fab 15, Phase 1, in July 2010, and completed equipment move-in in mid-2011 with volume production scheduled for early 2012. At the same time, Fab 15, Phase 2 started construction in mid-2011 and is expected to begin volume production next year. According to the company?s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Morris Chang, the company's 28nm chip output will reach 24,000 wafers a month in 2012, with more of which contributed by Fab 15 (Phases 1 and 2). TSMC's Fab 15 Phases 1 and 2 are forecast to generate as much as US$3 billion in revenue per year once they enter volume production, and Phase 3 will also reach a similar scale in the future.

Fab 15 currently employs approximately 1,400 employees, and is expected to create a total of 8,000 job opportunities, according to the company.

The ceremony was led by TSMC Chairman Dr. Morris Chang. "With a strong foundation in Taiwan, TSMC continues to fortify its trinity of strengths: technology leadership, manufacturing excellence, and customer trust," Chairman Chang said. "We aim to be the most trusted partner for our customers around the world and to form a powerful competitive force in the semiconductor industry with them. What's more, we hope that our leadership will make Taiwan a pivotal player in global semiconductor industry, and that TSMC continues to be a world-class company that everyone in Taiwan can take pride in. Fab 15, Phase 3 plays an important role in our plans for advanced technology development and capacity expansion, and once again demonstrates TSMC's ability to satisfy customer demands."