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TSMC signed an investment agreement with authorities in Shanghai’s Songjiang District on June 8, 2003, for a planned 8-inch wafer fab. The deal details and projected timeline were reported at the time by EE Times, citing Digitimes and a Taiwan Stock Exchange disclosure; a later TSMC filing corroborated the agreement.
What did TSMC agree to build?
The June 10, 2003 EE Times report said TSMC had signed an agreement with Songjiang District authorities for a fab in the Shanghai Songjiang Industrial Zone. It described a planned 8-inch facility using 0.25- and 0.35-micron processes. The report attributed its account to Digitimes, which it said relied on information disclosed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
TSMC’s 2004 Form 20-F later recorded that the company entered into investment agreements with the Songjiang Municipal Government on June 8, 2003, corroborating the agreement. The filing also treated approval and market demand as conditions for the Shanghai fab project: TSMC 2004 Form 20-F.
Was production expected by the end of 2004?
That was the expectation reported in 2003, not a guaranteed opening or a verified completion date. EE Times said TSMC expected small-volume production by the end of 2004, conditional on “approval from the Taiwan government and having enough customer demand.” The report did not identify a named speaker for that statement. TSMC’s subsequent filing likewise describes approval and market demand as project conditions.
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What does the agreement mean in current context?
The headline is historical, not an announcement of a new deal. TSMC’s 2025 Form 20-F identifies Fab 10 as being in Shanghai, China (TSMC 2025 Form 20-F). Its official fab-capacity page lists TSMC China as having two 8-inch wafer fabs. The same page reports company-wide annual capacity of more than 17 million 12-inch-equivalent wafers in 2025; that total covers the company, not Shanghai alone.
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