(TSMC photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has begun construction on a new US$19.6 billion 3nm fab that is anticipated to be completed in 2023.

TSMC has acquired 30 hectares of land on which to build a new 3nm wafer fab in the Southern Taiwan Science and Technology Park, reported DigiTimes. The processors are expected to begin rolling off the assembly line by 2023, according to ithome.

The cost of the new plant is estimated to be NT$600 billion (US$19.6 billion). Earlier in October, a U.S.-based brokerage said that in 2020, TSMC is likely to control 90 percent of the international 7nm technology market, enabling it to dominate the 5nm and 3nm processes over the next three years.

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The new factory is expected to use 20 percent renewable energy and 50 percent recycled water. At the same site, TSMC is also building a 5nm chip factory, which is expected to be up and running in the first half of 2020.

The factory’s environmental impact assessment was accepted by the Environmental Protection Administration on Dec. 19, 2018, after concerns were raised about water and power use. In July of this year, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said progress on 3nm development was "going well" and that it was "engaging with early customers on the technology definition," reported AnandTech.