A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. subsidiary said Tuesday it will start construction of a chip plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Thursday in a project also involving the Japanese government.

The world's largest contract chipmaker aims to ship products from the plant beginning in December 2024, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc. said, a development that would help ease global semiconductor shortages.

TSMC, Sony Group Corp. and Denso Corp., a major Japanese auto parts maker, will invest, along with the Japanese government, a total of $8.6 billion in the plant.

The government, with a stake of about 50 percent, leads the project to bolster supply chains for critical components such as semiconductors to improve the country's economic security.

The Kumamoto factory is to be built in an industrial area in the town of Kikuyo, with a plan to hire a total of about 1,700 people, including some 320 people on loan from TSMC.

About 200 others from Sony will be temporarily sent from its headquarters in Tokyo.

TSMC has established JASM in partnership with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp. as a chip-making venture.

Yuichi Horita, head of JASM, cited the location of Kikuyo in the heart of the Kyushu region and the full support of the prefecture and the town as major reasons for setting up the plant there.

==Kyodo

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