Following TSMC's fab in Kumamoto, Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) expanded its global footprint in Japan and India, where it will partner with India-based Tata Electronics on a fab.
PSMC announced on February 29 that it will assist Tata Electronics in constructing India's first 300mm wafer fab in Dholera, Gujarat, which is expected to generate more than 20,000 jobs. Under the partnership, Tata will make PMICs, Driver ICs, microcontrollers, and high-performance computing logic ICs for automotive, computing, storage, wireless communications, and AI applications.
PSMC chairperson Frank Huang said that India is a huge market with the world's largest population, adding that it's timely cooperation with Tata when the global supply chains are under reorganization and the chip industry is solidifying its resilience.
PSMC signed an agreement to assist India in setting up a wafer fab funded by the Indian government. Six months later, PSMC turned cautious, saying that building a wafer fab from scratch in India is not that simple and requires time.
In addition to India, PSMC and Japan-based SBI holdings agreed to form JSMC and start preparatory work on a 12-inch wafer fab in Japan before JSMC signed an MoU with Miyagi Prefecture for a wafer fab located at the Second Northern Sendai Central Industrial Park.
PSMC did not disclose the details of the Miyagi fab, which is reportedly focused on making automotive chips on 28-55nm nodes. JSMC planned to invest JPY400 billion in the first phase of the fab, which is expected to begin construction in 2024 and start operation in 2026, but details about the second phase are still unclear. The first phase of the Miyagi fab is expected to receive subsidies of up to JPY140 billion from the Japanese government.
Meanwhile, it is reported that PSMC may join hands with Japan-based startup PowerSpin to mass-produce MRAM to meet AI demands in the Miyago fab.
