TSMC has commenced mass production at its fab in Kumamoto, Japan, marking a significant milestone in advanced chip manufacturing for the country and the first step in its major expansion overseas, reports Nikkei. The plant, operated by Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), produces chips using a variety of process technologies for TSMC's major customers in Japan, reports DigiTimes.
As TSMC's Kumamoto fab kicks off operations, this marks the first time logic chips featuring FinFET transistors have been made in the Land of the Rising Sun. TSMC's new fab near Kumamoto on Kyushu Island can process up to 55,000 300-mm wafer starts per month (WSPM) using TSMC's 40 nm, 28 nm, 22 nm, 16 nm, and 12 nm-class process technologies. Several variants of N28 are meant to address automotive and mature applications, whereas the 22ULP process aims at ultra-low-power applications. As for N16 and N12 production nodes, they are meant to address the demands of more performance-hungry applications that can take advantage of FinFET transistors.
