Following the report by Asia Express dated on November 18, 2022, Netherlands-based ASML recently confirmed that the Taiwanese government has granted its plan to build a new fab in Linkou District, Taiwan, for NT$30 billion (US$948.6 million; US$1=NT$30.8, the Economic Daily News reported on August 3. The new fab is set to kick off construction this year and begin operations by 2026. Upon completion, the new facility will house about 2,000 employees, supplying extreme ultraviolet lithography tools to leading Taiwanese semiconductor companies such as TSMC.
According to predictions from the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), the global semiconductor market is expected to experience a 4.1% year-on-year decline, reaching approximately US$556.6 billion in 2023. Additionally, the shipment value of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry is projected to reach NT$41.1 billion (US$1.37 billion) in the same year, representing a 6.9% year-on-year decrease. MIC, established in 1987, is a division of the Institute for Information Industry (III), a prominent government think tank and one of the leading IT research institutes in Taiwan.