TSMC-led push for Japan chip hub faces land shortage

Local governments in Kumamoto farming region race to create industrial zones

20230613N TSMC Kumamoto

The area around Kikuyo, the site of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s new factory, is filled with prime farmland. (Photo by Kosuke Kondo)

KOSUKE KONDO, Nikkei staff writer

KUMAMOTO, Japan -- As Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. eyes a second plant in southwestern Japan and suppliers look to follow, a challenge has emerged to policymakers' hopes for a bigger chip industry hub: land.

The world's largest chip foundry is building its first Japanese fabrication facility in the farming town of Kikuyo, Kumamoto prefecture, attracting other projects to the area, such as a massive Sony Group image sensor factory.

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