Two people familiar with the matter revealed that TSMC, the leading wafer foundry, is considering establishing an advanced packaging plant in Japan. This move will add impetus to Japan's restart of the development of the semiconductor industry.

Reuters reported that the sources, who requested anonymity because the information has not yet been made public, said the plans were still in the early stages.

One option TSMC is considering is bringing its CoWoS advanced packaging technology to Japan, one of the people said.

The principle of CoWoS packaging technology is to stack chips and package them on a substrate to improve performance, save space and reduce power consumption.

Currently, all of TSMC's CoWoS production capacity is in Taiwan.

With the booming development of artificial intelligence (AI), global demand for advanced semiconductor packaging has surged, stimulating chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics and Intel to increase production capacity.

TSMC President Wei Zhejia said in January this year that TSMC plans to double its CoWos production capacity this year and further increase it in 2025.

TSMC said on Monday it plans to add advanced packaging capacity in Chiayi, southern Taiwan, to cope with strong market demand, but did not disclose details.

Japan is considered capable of playing a larger role in advanced packaging, given its leading semiconductor materials and equipment manufacturers, growing investment in chip manufacturing capabilities and a solid customer base.

The establishment of an advanced packaging plant will expand TSMC's growing business in Japan. TSMC has just built a new factory in Japan and recently announced that it will build a second factory in Japan. Both factories are located in the Kumamoto region of Kyushu, the center of chip manufacturing.

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