Market news: It is rumored that TSMC is investing over 30 billion yuan to acquire AUO's two factories, laying out the CPU ecosystem

According to the Industrial and Commercial Times, there are widespread rumors in the market that TSMC intends to invest over 30 billion New Taiwan dollars to acquire AUO's two old-generation panel factories, L7 and L5C, located in the Central Taiwan Science Park, adjacent to TSMC's plant, to reserve space for large-size packaging such as CoPoS and FOPLP. Informed sources indicate that TSMC has sent personnel to complete on-site audits, and AUO plans to prioritize the disposal of the two factories, aiming to submit to the board of directors in October, with an estimated completion of production line relocation and factory vacating by the end of the first quarter next year. Both TSMC and AUO have not confirmed this transaction.

Semiconductor industry analysts suggest that TSMC is extending from the A14 advanced process and advanced packaging to the COUPE silicon photonics platform, leveraging Taichung's role as a hub for precision optical components to build the Central Taiwan Science Park into a CPO ecosystem. TSMC's existing Fab 15A in the Science Park mainly uses a 28-nanometer process and can support the manufacturing of silicon interposers; the second phase of the Science Park, Fab 25, is planned to build four A14 wafer fabs, with the first two already entering steel structure construction, and the first factory striving for completion before April 2027. The existing advanced packaging and testing facility AP5 in the Science Park has already started CoWoS production, and in the future, it will integrate electronic and photonic chips through the COUPE platform.

On the optical side, Largan Precision has recently acquired land and factories in Nantun, Taichung Industrial Zone, and nearby precision machinery clusters, with three transactions totaling approximately 2.568 billion, interpreted by the market as a warm-up for CPO mass production. The company has obtained its first mass production order for fiber optic arrays, with the first automated trial production line aiming for completion by the end of the third quarter, and mass production expected as early as mid-2027, while also laying out micro-lens arrays and integrated FAUs.