TSMC Intends to Hire More Workers, Expands Capacity

It appears that TSMC has reached the point where it must expand its wafer capacity in order to cope with growing demand for chips and with the (supposedly) upcoming spike in semiconductor orders.

End-users keeping track of what is happening on the IT market will probably be aware of the fact that chip sales are expected to rise this year.

Like all other years, companies will keep selling PCs of all sorts but with tablets now adding to the mix, things may change by quite a bit.

Basically, NAND Flash chip sales will rise (slates use such storage) while all other sorts of ICs will be needed as well.

Needless to say, the world's top manufacturers of semiconductors will have to act foresightedly in order to not be caught by surprise.

Granted, some analysts don't think slates will really sell that much until they get cheaper ($200-$250), but either way, they will sell.

Apparently, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) will prepare for whatever comes by expanding the capacity of its Fab 14 Phase 4 facility.

It is located in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and has a monthly capacity of 40,000 wafers, capacity set to be increased by another 10,000 by the end of the year.

Of course, such a project cannot be done without the obligatory increase in workforce, so TSMC, according to the same Digitimes report, will hire 500 to 600 staff during the first half of the ongoing year.

That said, the world-class chip maker's board of directors has already approved a capex budget of US$2.9 billion for fab construction and capacity expansion.

TSMC, furthermore, aims to finish first-phase construction at a new 12-inch plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (equipment move-in is set for around the middle of the year), and this is in addition to the already existing 12-inch Fab 12 in Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), northern Taiwan, which should go through some expansion of its own by late 2011.