TSMC 2nm Fab Faces Land Acquisition Challenges

The Central Taiwan Science Park is moving forward with the second phase of its expansion, which will host TSMC's most advanced 2nm wafer fabrication plant. The park has reported that over 95% of the required land acquisition agreements have been reached, including the land currently occupied by the Hsing Nong Golf Course. However, members of the golf club are demanding a buyback price of NT$1.8 million (approximately USD 56,000) per golf voucher to block the land acquisition.

Calculating from the issuance of 1,750 golf vouchers at Hsing Nong Golf Course, the total buyback demand reaches NT$3.15 billion (over USD 98.5 million). Currently, the average price for a golf voucher in the region exceeds NT$3 million (around USD 94,000). Despite this, even if the club meets the members' demands, Hsing Nong Golf Course is projected to net between NT$15 billion to NT$20 billion (USD 470 million to USD 626 million) from the sale.

Golf club members are considering legal action and organizing protests, raising concerns for the Central Taiwan Science Park about potential delays due to prolonged lawsuits. In response, the park management has issued an ultimatum to the golf course owners to resolve the matter with club members by December 15, or face compulsory land acquisition.

If all goes as planned, the Central Taiwan Science Park expects to complete all land acquisitions by the end of 2024, with the land transfer to TSMC scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. This will enable TSMC to commence construction on its state-of-the-art wafer fabrication plant for producing 2nm chips.

While TSMC's facility in the United States has begun trial production, achieving yields comparable to or exceeding those of similar plants in Taiwan, the company appears determined to maintain its latest and most sophisticated technologies in its home base of Taiwan.