TSMC’s Mother Fab: The Heart of Advanced Process Development
Original Article by SemiVision Research
In our previous articles, we mentioned that TSMC is accelerating its expansion in the US, and this topic continues to evolve.
2025/03/06 5PM Taipei Time
Taiwan President Lai held a joint press conference with TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei. During the press conference, C.C. Wei clearly stated that the main reason for expanding investment in the US is to meet the strong demand from American customers.
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2025/03/06 5PM, Taiwan President Lai held a joint press conference with TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei. During the press conference, C.C. Wei clearly stated that the main reason for expanding investment in the US is to meet the strong demand from American customers. Current production capacity is insufficient, which led to the decision to increase investment in the US. However, he emphasized that this will absolutely not affect TSMC’s investments in Taiwan—the 11 planned production lines in Taiwan will continue as scheduled.
At the start of the press conference, C.C. Wei lightheartedly remarked,
“Life has been a bit stressful lately—meeting two presidents in such a short time, plus facing the media and answering all your questions.”Yesterday, President Lai instructed me to thoroughly explain why TSMC is expanding in the US and why we are committing to a $100 billion investment.”
In response to these concerns, C.C. Wei provided a detailed explanation of what this “R&D center” actually means:
Currently, TSMC has around 10,000 R&D personnel in Taiwan, while the US R&D center is expected to house around 1,000 employees. So, what exactly will this 1,000-person team in the US be working on?
C.C. Wei explained:
The biggest difference between TSMC’s production lines and its competitors is that TSMC’s production lines are responsible not only for volume production but also for continuous process optimization and technology improvement. Each production line must improve year after year. Wei emphasized:
"I can say bluntly that our competitors do not have this capability. Their production lines only focus on manufacturing, while all technology advancement happens within their R&D teams."
This means that TSMC’s definition of R&D also includes personnel working directly on the production line to improve processes. In TSMC’s broader view, these process engineers are also considered part of R&D. This dual-function approach is one of TSMC’s core advantages.
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What is a Mother Fab?
C.C. Wei mentioned this word “Mother Fab“ many times at conference. In the semiconductor industry, a Mother Fab refers to a key flagship fab that plays a central role in technology development and process innovation. It’s not just a production facility — it’s a hub where new process technologies are developed, verified, and optimized before they are transferred to other fabs for high-volume manufacturing.
What CC Wei Emphasized
At the press conference, CC Wei highlighted that TSMC’s “Mother Fab” strategy is a key competitive advantage. Here’s how TSMC defines and uses the Mother Fab concept:
Process R&D Headquarters
Mother Fabs are where cutting-edge process technologies (like 3nm, 2nm, and future nodes) are invented, developed, and validated. This is where TSMC’s true core R&D team works.