Taiwan’s TSMC is expanding its presence in Kaohsiung with a new verification facility at Whitepu Industrial Park, focusing on process development for advanced packaging and promising thousands of high-tech jobs amid a broader regional semiconductor strategy.
TSMC is extending its presence in Kaohsiung with a new verification line at the Whitepu Industrial Park, broadening the city’s role beyond mass production and into process development for advanced packaging. According to local reporting, the site is expected to host a joint research and validation line for back-end equipment and materials, giving suppliers a place to test hardware, software and process integration before moving into major manufacturing plants.
At the SEMI International Semiconductor Forum, TSMC executive He Jun said the Whitepu site is initially planned to cover about 3 hectares and include two buildings. The facility is expected to support modular validation for critical processes, a model designed to speed up the qualification of equipment and materials suppliers working with companies such as TSMC and ASE before they enter high-volume production environments.
Kaohsiung City Hall says the move fits a wider industrial strategy as the city builds out semiconductor clusters in Nanzih, Renwu and Qiaotou. The Whitepu park is intended to focus on advanced packaging equipment and its supply chain, linking with existing manufacturing bases to strengthen the southern Taiwan semiconductor corridor. Mayor Chen Chi-mai has framed the project as part of the “post-Moore’s law” era, when gains in chip performance increasingly depend on advanced packaging rather than transistor scaling alone.
Deputy Mayor Lo Ta-sheng said Whitepu covers 88.73 hectares in total, with about 53 hectares reserved for industrial use and roughly 25 hectares set aside for related suppliers. The park was approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on 17 March and is now moving through development contracting, with construction due to begin in September. Analysts and local universities say the wider Kaohsiung semiconductor push is already creating demand for skilled workers: one report forecasts more than 7,000 high-tech jobs by 2027, while ASE is separately expanding its Kaohsiung footprint with new packaging and testing facilities, including a larger investment plan and a third plant in Nanzih.
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