One seat is not enough! TSM.US (TSM.US) affiliates plan to rebuild a fab in Singapore, and a “wave of missing cores” of AI spawns Asian layout

The Zhitong Finance App learned that VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., was established as a joint venture between Vanguard International Semiconductor, a smaller affiliate of TSM.US (TSM.US), and NXP Semiconductor (NXPI.US) of the Netherlands. (VSMC) is considering building a second fab in Singapore to meet continued growing demand.

VSMC Chairman Leuh Fang said in an interview that VSMC's new plant may produce chips with more advanced processes than its first factory in Singapore.

Demand for artificial intelligence services and data centers that support them is heating up, leading to a shortage of global semiconductor supply, even as major manufacturers such as TSMC continue to expand production. This boom cycle has prompted Taiwanese manufacturers to set up new production capacity overseas, and Singapore has become one of the popular destinations attracting global investment.

“The supply shortage will continue for some time,” Leuh said. “We were supposed to be building two factories here at the same time.”

VSMC held an inauguration ceremony for its first fab in eastern Singapore on Monday. Construction of the plant began at the end of 2024, and the company expects to invest 7.8 billion US dollars. Leuh declined to estimate the cost of a potential second plant.

“It's still too early to talk about the budget because we haven't decided what technology to use,” he said. “Different technologies will have a significant impact on the overall scale of investment.”

It is worth mentioning that VSMC's expansion is not an exception; Singapore is experiencing a second wave of investment in the semiconductor industry. UMC.US (UMC.US) invested 5 billion US dollars in the Baisha Wafer Factory Park in Singapore to enter commercial mass production in 2026. The plan is to increase Singapore's annual production capacity to 1.3 million sheets, making it UMC's largest production base outside of Taiwan, and the number of employees will double from about 1,200 people.