TSMC setting up shop in Germany with 12/16nm fab?

A couple of months ago, TSMC called the chip self-sufficiency goals of the US and the EU unrealistic. TSMC founder Morris Chang explained Taiwan is the biggest strength of TSMC and stressed that the success achieved over there can't be easily replicated somewhere else. But TSMC is setting up some new production capacity in the US, and now it seems the semiconductor manufacturing giant is also looking at Europe.

Dresden, Germany rumored to get a 12/16nm fab

According to DigiTimes, TSMC will soon reveal new expansion plans for its 28nm and 12/16nm capacity. While TSMC is not a big fan of huge overseas expansion, the foundry is certainly willing to make investments where it makes sense. One of the problems of Europe is that it doesn't have a big, high-tech electronics industry -- so cutting-edge foundry services make little sense as these factories would not be churning out chips for European clients.

But production on more mature nodes for regional clients like NXP, Infineon and ON Semiconductor seems to be an option for TSMC. WinFuture reports TSMC has picked Dresden, Germany as the location for its first European plant. There is also talk about a new TSMC factory in Kumamoto, Japan.