TSMC plans to build two new CoWoS advanced packaging plants in Chiayi Science Park are underway, with the first of the CoWoS plants starting construction in May with geological drilling operations. However, suspected archeological ruins were discovered at the site earlier this month, and now construction has been suspended.
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The news is coming from Taiwan news outlet LTN, reporting that in accordance with cultural capital procedures, TSMC has also proposed a plan to build a second CoWoS advanced packaging facility in the Southern Science Park Administration of the National Science and Technology Council, and the Southern Science and Technology Bureau expressed its “full assistance”.
The South Science and Technology Management Bureau confirmed that TSMC’s first new CoWoS plant in Chiayi Science Park discovered suspected remains, suspending construction, with a response strategy formed that would propose to build a second CoWoS factory first. When the suspected ruins were found, a change of development behavior was submitted to adjust the location of the park land and reduce the impact.
TSMC’s discovery of the ruins and its halted CoWoS plant construction, a cultural review meeting has been convened, and it was resolved that whether it’s a sensitive area, or a non-sensitive area, with construction process monitored daily.
People who are familiar with the park and factory development projects made a point that it’s not uncommon for ruins to be excavated in various industrial and scientific parks during the development process. LTN uses an example of many archaeological sites during the development of Nanke Park, and later, the National Museum of Taiwan Prehistory and Nanke Archeology was established.
TSMC’s continued construction on its new CoWoS advanced packaging facility after the ruins were discovered might have stopped for now, but if the area is small, the impact won’t be large. If the ruins discovered extend into a larger area, it might affect the factory construction and development progress for TSMC and its first new CoWoS advanced packaging plant.