TSMC secured approval from Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration to build a new fab in the country, according to a report by Nikkei on Wednesday.
The fab will built at Hsinchu Science Park close to the headquarters of the world’s largest foundry company.
TSMC has been working to build an R&D center and manufacturing facility for 2-nanometer (nm) chips since last year.
The company is expected to spend around US$20 billion in the new fab.
Construction will start early next year with production equipment being placed inside by 2023. Production is expected to start between 2024 to 2025.
The fab is expected to supply 2-nm chips to Apple.
TSMC is expected to apply gate-all-around technology for the chips it manufactures at the new fab.
GAA uses four surfaces for its current channels instead of three in the previous FinFET structure.
Earlier this week, Intel had said it plans to manufacture Intel 20A chips in 2024. It is the company’s equivalent to 2-nm chips.
Intel plans to launch a 1.8-nm chip in the following year.
Samsung said on Thursday that it plans to apply GAA starting with its 3-nm process.
This is likely an attempt to apply the technology first before rivals, before it starts 2-nm production.
