Land in Hsinchu County has cleared its final planning hurdle, opening room for the island’s largest chipmaker to build plants that go beyond its next node.
Approval covers the third phase of the Longtan section of the Hsinchu Science Park. Roughly 104 acres are involved, at a cost near NT$95B, or about $3B.
Three wafer fabs are planned. The first is slated to begin commercial output in 2030.
The node mix is the notable part. These lines would run A14 and generations still more advanced, a class of process the industry calls angstrom-scale.
Against the 2nm family in production today, A14 is expected to bring more than 20 percent higher logic density, 10 to 15 percent more performance and 25 to 30 percent better energy efficiency.
Rival roadmaps frame the contest. Intel is ramping 18A and has said 14A products arrive in 2028. Samsung has moved its own 1.4nm effort to 2029.
Demand is not the constraint. Nvidia and Apple remain the anchor customers at the leading edge, and both have taken volume on earlier nodes.
Tooling is the open question. Angstrom-class lines need high-NA lithography, whose cost and uptime are still being proven.
For now the approval signals intent rather than capacity. Equipment orders, hiring and construction schedules will show how fast the permit turns into wafers.
