TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) has no concrete plans currently for building factories in Europe, chairman Mark Liu said on Wednesday, adding that customers in that region were fewer than in other parts of the world.
The company, the world’s largest contract manufacturer for semiconductors, is assessing expansion plans in various regions, with the primary factor being customer need, he told TSMC’s annual shareholder meeting.
The European Union has been courting Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer, to build plants in the bloc, and senior officials from both sides discussed chip cooperation last week.
In February, the EU unveiled the European Chips Act, with the bloc mentioning Taiwan as one of the “like-minded partners” Europe would like to work with.
TSMC, Asia’s most valuable listed company, is spending $12 billion on chip factories in the United States, and is building a factory with Sony Group in Japan, as companies and governments attempt to tackle a global shortage of chips which has particularly affected the auto industry.
TSMC said in April it expects chip capacity to remain very tight this year, amid the global crunch that has kept order books full and allowed chipmakers to charge premium prices.
Liu said the utilisation of TSMC’s plants remains “very full” this year, and that current high global inflation has no direct impact on the chip industry.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
