TSMC's 450mm Fab Plan Irks Environmentalists in Central Taiwan

Taipei, Dec. 27, 2012 (CENS)--Some local residents and council representatives showed up Dec. 26 at a meeting to protest against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s plan to build its first 450mm wafer fab plant at the Central Taiwan Science Park, where the park's administration presented in a conference its environmental-evaluation and health-risk assessment plan for the first 450mm wafer fab.

However, several local residents and their representatives living near the park, located in Taichung City, showed up at the meeting to protest and report many factories at the park illegally discharging sewage at night, creating air pollution and noise, also that flooding has frequently hit the area since the park was established.

The 53.63-hectare site for TSMC's fab is a mothballed military ammunition depot, which the Taiwan Cabinet approved in June for the fab, at a cost of NT$400 billion (US$13.7 billion), and projects by other manufacturers.

According to the park's administration, the government's planned NT$6.7 billion (US$232 million) spending on the land will draw investments to create 7,000 jobs and revenue of up to NT$200 billion (US$6.8 billion) by 2019.

Park administration officials say that semiconductor manufacturing will be the biggest investors in the site, with precision-machinery firms to lead in number.

TSMC plans to begin constructing the factory in the first quarter of 2014, with the administration planning to complete the evaluations and assessments by the end of 2013.