Where Are the World’s Most Advanced Semiconductor Fabs Being Built?

We are in the middle of what some experts have taken to calling the semiconductor decade. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers and businesses are more keenly aware than ever of the importance of technology. From cars and smartphones to computers and home appliances–technology plays a critical role in every facet of modern life. And that role is only growing. 

It’s no wonder, then, that the semiconductor industry is expected to see significant growth over the next decade. After achieving record revenue of $570 billion in 2022, the semiconductor field is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 8% for the remainder of the decade, putting it in the enviable position of becoming a trillion-dollar industry by 2030. 

Western Push: Expanding the Semiconductor Landscape

For years, the majority of the sector—including fabrication, IC assembly, and packaging—was concentrated in East Asia, with nations like Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Japan playing a disproportionately large role in semiconductor manufacturing and production. Over the past two years, however, Western countries have taken aggressive measures to ramp up their participation in the field, with governments in the U.S. and the EU passing ambitious legislative packages aimed at deploying generous subsidies to lure the world’s top chipmakers onto their soil. 

The CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S.’s $54 billion gambit to expand their semiconductor market share and ensure that the next generation of lucrative manufacturing jobs are not lost to China, is already paying dividends: a total of 21 new semiconductor fabs are being constructed in the United States, while another six facilities are undergoing significant expansions of their sites and capacities. Notably, however, only three of those fabrication plants are confirmed to be manufacturing semiconductors with node sizes of 10 nanometers or less—often considered the threshold for advanced or “leading-edge” chips. (A number of planned U.S. fabs have yet to disclose their node sizes.)

Despite this bold new era of extravagant Western subsidies, when it comes to the most advanced fabs in the world, the balance of power still rests firmly in East Asia. Several of the region’s most technologically adept nations continue to play host to high-end foundries from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, Micron Technology, and other top chipmakers. Those countries’ upstart competitors on the other side of the globe, meanwhile, still have a lot of ground to make up at the highest echelons of semiconductor manufacturing. Mapping out the leading-edge fabs announced or currently under construction speaks to a geographical fulcrum that has yet to markedly shift from the cluster of nations in which it has long resided. 

So where are the most advanced fabs being built? Let’s break it down:

Japan Advanced Semiconductor Fab Count: 4

Hiroshima Fab

Owner: Micron Technology

Location: Hiroshima Prefecture

Construction Start Date: 2022

Production Start Date: 2025

Technology Node: 10nm

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IIM-1 Fab

Owner: Rapidus Corporation 

Location: Hokkaido

Construction Start Date: 2023

Production Start Date: 2027

Technology Node: 2nm

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IIM-2 Fab

Owner: Rapidus Corporation 

Location: Hokkaido

Construction Start Date: 2025

Production Start Date: 2027

Technology Node: 1nm

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Fab-23 Phase 3

Owner: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)

Location: Kumamoto (proposed)

Construction Start Date: Unknown 

Production Start Date: Unknown 

Technology Node: 2nm

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While there’s been no shortage of press focused on Western nations’ efforts to stimulate their domestic semiconductor supply chains, some countries in East Asia are making subtler but no less ambitious efforts of their own. Japan is one of them. The most striking demonstration of the island nation’s aspirations is embodied by the Rapidus Corporation, the semiconductor manufacturing firm founded in Tokyo less than two years ago, in August 2022. 

Established with around $50 million in seed funding from a coterie of Japanese companies that included Sony and Toyota, the Rapidus Corporation aims to spearhead a resurgence in Japanese semiconductor manufacturing. The country owned a staggering 50% share of the global chip market at its peak in the 1980s, and the nation’s government and corporate luminaries are determined to restore Japan to those heady days of shimmering industrial prestige. 

Rapidus’ Ambitious Semiconductor Development Plans

To that end, Rapidus is planning to complete construction on its IIM-1 fabrication plant by 2025, with a goal of mass-producing 2nm wafers at the facility by 2027. The warp-speed timeline for the fledgling company has inspired a measure of dubiousness from chipmaking professionals, with Reuters reporting that the firm’s plans “have been met with skepticism from chip industry insiders who have questioned whether the company will be able to achieve mass production and secure a sufficient customer base.” CEO Atsuyoshi Koike rebuffed such doubters in a statement last fall, declaring that “We will complete the plant at an unprecedented speed, as the company name Rapidus implies.” 

In addition to the accelerated rise of Japan’s homegrown chipmaker, the country has also provided billions in incentives to Micron Technology and TSMC for their respective fabs in Hiroshima and Kumamoto. While TSMC has nearly wrapped up construction on Phase 1 of Fab-23, with Phase 2 slated to kick off mass production by 2027, Phase 3 has yet to be formally announced. 

Taiwan Advanced Semiconductor Fab Count: 4

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Fab 22

Owner: TSMC

Location: Kaohsiung 

Construction Start Date: 2023

Production Start Date: 2025

Technology Node: 2nm

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Fab 20

Owner: TSMC

Location: Baoshan

Construction Start Date: 2022

Production Start Date: 2025

Technology Node: 2nm

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Taichung Fab 

Owner: TSMC

Location: Taichung

Construction Start Date: 2024

Production Start Date: 2027

Technology Node: 1.4nm

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New Tapai Fab 

Owner: Nanya Technology 

Location: New Tapai 

Construction Start Date: 2022

Production Start Date: 2026

Technology Node: 10nm

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Unsurprisingly, Taiwan’s upcoming slate of advanced semiconductor fabs are dominated by TSMC, the domestic foundry and chipmaking giant that manufactures more than half of the world’s semiconductors. TSMC’s next two facilities in line to begin production, Fab 20 and Fab 22, will feature the company’s N2 process node, the groundbreaking process technology that utilizes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and gate-all-around field-effect transistors (GAAFETs). 

TSMC & The Race To Release 2nm Technology

These two fabs represent more than just an effort to expand production capacity and meet surging demand, though. They are at the intense epicenter of a race to be the first foundry to release the decisive new 2nm technology. Competitors like Intel and Samsung, whose market shares, though significant, are dwarfed by TSMC, see the generational leap to the 2nm process node as a rare and fleeting opportunity to catch up to their preeminent rival and wrest away some of its largest, most high-profile customers. 

Early signs of how the race will play out, however, appear to be favoring TSMC. Recent reports have indicated that the foundry has already previewed its N2 technology for coveted customers like Apple and Nvidia. 

United States Advanced Semiconductor Fab Count: 3

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Fab 52 and 62

Owner: Intel

Location: Arizona

Construction Start Date: 2022

Production Start Date: 2024

Technology Node: 7nm

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Ohio Fab 

Owner: Intel

Location: Ohio

Construction Start Date: 2022

Production Start Date: 2026

Technology Node: 10nm

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Fab 21

Owner: TSMC

Location: Arizona (expansion of existing fab)

Construction Start Date: 2023

Production Start Date: 2026

Technology Node: 3nm

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In the heart of Arizona’s Silicon Desert, at its famed Ocotillo Campus in the city of Chandler, California-based chipmaker Intel is on pace to complete a $20 billion project that will see it wrap up construction on two new fabrication plants utilizing 7nm process nodes. The company also broke ground on a new megasite in Ohio in 2022, with production at those facilities planned to start in about two years. 

Some of the most recent developments in the CHIPS and Science Act suggest that Intel is positioning itself favorably to be the landmark legislation’s largest beneficiary. On March 20, the Biden administration announced a preliminary agreement to provide $8.5 billion in direct funding to the company, along with another $11 billion in loans. A White House press release explicitly highlighted Intel’s construction projects in Arizona and Ohio, declaring that the investment “will support the construction and expansion of Intel facilities” while creating “nearly 30,000 jobs and supporting tens of thousands of indirect jobs.” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger echoed the administration’s patriotic rhetoric, proclaiming the day a “defining moment for the U.S. and Intel as we work to power the next great chapter of American semiconductor innovation.” 

South Korea Advanced Semiconductor Fab Count: 1

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Pyeongtaek Fab 

Owner: Samsung

Location: Pyeongtaek (expansion of existing fab)

Construction Start Date: 2020

Production Start Date: 2024

Technology Node: 4/5nm

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Samsung, the South Korea-based electronics manufacturing giant, remains the world’s largest memory chipmaker. The company captured nearly 46% of the total market share of DRAM chips in the fourth quarter of 2023, tightening its grip on the crucial modules and affirming its supremacy in the field of memory technology. 

The firm’s Pyeongtaek megafag, which spans nearly three million square meters in the rapidly growing city 40 miles south of Seoul, is arguably the centerpiece of Samsung’s vision for itself over the next decade. The multinational has been expanding production lines at the complex since at least 2020, when it broke ground on its P3 fabrication plant. The semiconductor fab started mass production of NAND flash memory in 2022, and the next phase of construction has been focused on DRAM and foundry lines. According to various reports, however, that project has encountered delays, and is now scheduled to be completed at the end of this year. 

In addition to the expansion projects at the P3 facility, Samsung is also developing a fourth plant, dubbed P4, featuring a cleanroom focused on semiconductor contract manufacturing. Construction on a fifth plant at Pyeongtaek, P5, was recently suspended.

The Battle For Leading Edge Semiconductor Technology Is Getting Hotter

Understanding where the most advanced fabrication facilities are being built, and by whom, can provide meaningful insights into emerging patterns and shifting paradigms in a dynamic, multidimensional, and hyper-competitive industry. The current landscape of new or expanding advanced fabs possesses a number of compelling narratives, including early returns on America’s bold bid to radically reorient the semiconductor supply chain and the prodigious ambitions of homegrown Japanese upstart Rapidus Corporation. And while an accounting of plants manufacturing at processing nodes of 10nm or below may not provide a complete picture of global fabrication construction—China, for one, is building a myriad of semiconductor fabs at less advanced levels—it does faithfully capture the industry’s leading edge. And if the unparalleled influx of federal funds from all over the world is any indication, that is a precious, ferociously sought-after commodity.