TSMC To Sell Equipment To New Foundry JV
TSMC plans to sell some fab equipment to VSMC, a new 300mm foundry venture based in Singapore
By Mark LaPedus
TSMC plans to sell a significant amount of semiconductor equipment to VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (VSMC), a new 300mm foundry venture based in Singapore.
Under the plan, TSMC’s board recently approved a transaction under which TSMC would sell equipment valued from $71 million to $73 million to VSMC. Formed in 2024, VSMC is a 300mm foundry venture between Taiwan foundry vendor Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and Dutch-based chip supplier NXP. VIS has a 60% stake in the venture, while NXP has 40%. The total investment in the venture is $7.8 billion.
The joint venture will operate as an independent, commercial foundry supplier, providing assured proportional capacity to both equity partners. The fab will be operated by VIS. The underlying process technologies are planned to be licensed and transferred to the joint venture from TSMC. TSMC is a major shareholder in VIS.
Located in Tampines, Singapore, VSMC is slated to move into production in 2027. The 300mm fab will support 130nm to 40nm mixed-signal, power management and analog products, targeting the automotive, industrial, consumer and mobile markets. The expected output is 55,000 300mm wafers per month by 2029.
NXP is a supplier of chips for automotive, consumer and industrial applications. VIS is a foundry vendor, which specializes in making chips using mature technologies. Today, the annual capacity of the manufacturing facilities owned and operated by VIS is around 3.45 million 200mm wafers in 2025. Total facilities include five 200mm wafer fabs – four fabs are based in Taiwan and one fab is based in Singapore.
VSMC represents VIS’s first 300mm fab. TSMC’s proposed equipment sale represents a major boost for VSMC. The new venture will mainly make chips using more mature processes.
To make these types of chips, a chipmaker requires legacy fab equipment. But generally, it’s sometimes difficult to find legacy fab equipment in the open market. Some equipment makers are making new legacy fab tools for 200mm and 300mm fabs, but they are selling those systems at a premium.
Meanwhile, for the first quarter of 2025, VIS reported sales of NT$11,949 million (US$365.39 million), up 3.4% from the previous quarter and up 24% from the like period a year ago. Net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company was NT$2,414 million, up 30.7% from the previous quarter and up 89.8% from the like period a year ago.
“As customers’ demand in communication, industrial and automotive semiconductors pick up despite the decrease shipments in DDIC, we forecast our second quarter of 2025 wafer shipment to increase by 3% to 5% sequentially, blended ASP to increase by 0% to 2% compared to first quarter 2025, and gross profit margin to be between 27% and 29%.” said Amanda Huang, vice president and CFO of VIS. “Meanwhile, after negotiating with customers, VIS expects to recognize additional LTA income of approximately 1% of revenue in 2Q25.”
TSMC, meanwhile, recently held its North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, Calif. Here are my five takeaways from the event.