BOI supports Hana-PTT joint venture to proceed with investment plan to build the first silicon carbide chip factory in Thailand by the end of this year after receiving approval from BOI and issuing promotion card in August 2024. The first phase investment is 11.5 billion baht and production will start within 2 years to support growth of Power Electronics group including EV, Data Center and energy storage system, helping to upgrade Thailand's upstream semiconductor industry.
Mr. Narit Therdsathirasak, Secretary-General of the Board of Investment (BOI), revealed that on September 20, 2024, he led a group to Lamphun Province to follow up on the progress of the first wafer fabrication investment project in Thailand by FT1 Corporation Co., Ltd. (FT1), a joint venture between Hana Microelectronics Public Company Limited, a major electronics product manufacturer, and the PTT Group. After the BOI approved the promotion in February 2024, the company then issued a promotion card in August. The BOI has been working closely with the company to support the implementation at various stages. The factory is currently in the design phase and is preparing to start construction in the Sahapat Industrial Estate, Lamphun Province, within December of this year. It is expected that the construction and installation of machinery will take approximately 2 years before production begins in the first quarter of 2027.
FT One Corporation Co., Ltd. will establish the first upstream chip manufacturing plant in Thailand with an investment of
over 11.5 billion baht in the first phase, receiving technology transfer from a leading chip manufacturer in South Korea to produce 6-inch and 8-inch silicon carbide (SiC) wafer chips with important features that are different from general chips made from silicon, namely, they can withstand high electric currents and heat, making them suitable for use in electronic devices that control electrical power conversion (Power Electronics), such as servers in data centers, electric vehicle charging devices, inverters in electric vehicles, and electronic devices, including electrical power conversion devices used in energy storage systems, which are industries that have high growth potential in the future.
The main reason for choosing Thailand as the location for this project is because the customer's main requirements are
1) to be located in a neutral country to reduce geopolitical risks, 2) to have competitive costs, and
3) to have the ability to expand production capacity in the future, which Thailand can meet. In addition, Thailand has high-quality infrastructure, stable electricity, potential for clean energy, high-quality personnel, good support measures from the government, the EV industry, energy storage systems, and data centers that are growing rapidly. In addition, Hana's factories in Thailand already have businesses that are continuous from chip production, especially the IC Assembly and Testing process.
'The semiconductor industry is the heart of the development of various target industries in the future, whether it is electric vehicles, electronics, digital, telecommunications, automation and robotics, or medical devices. In the past, Thailand's role was in the midstream, which is the contract for semiconductor assembly and testing, or OSAT. This chip manufacturing investment project will be an important step towards elevating Thailand to the upstream semiconductor industry. In addition to helping create jobs and develop human resources in science and technology through the cooperation in curriculum development with Thai universities and the transfer of semiconductor knowledge from South Korea, it will also promote Thai entrepreneurs to enter the semiconductor supply chain and lead to the development of an advanced electronics ecosystem, which will help attract other leading electronics manufacturers to invest in Thailand as well,' said Mr. Narit.
Source: Thai News Agency