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TSMC names Rose Castanares as Arizona plant president as CEO Y.L. Wang races to accelerate production

Monica Chen, Hsinchu; Levi Li, DIGITIMES Asia 0

Credit: AFP

TSMC has recently announced that Brian Harrison, president of TSMC Arizona, will retire on December 31, 2024. Effective October 1, he will transition to an advisory role within the Arizona CEO office, serving as an advisor to the chairman. Simultaneously, Rose Castanares, currently the executive vice president of TSMC North America, will step into the role of president of TSMC Arizona.

Rose Castanares joined TSMC in 1998, where she was responsible for customer relations and sales for a range of systems and fabless clients. Before her promotion to vice president in 2015, she served as senior director at TSMC North America's San Jose office, managing customer teams and handling both major and emerging client accounts.

She previously served as central region director for Texas in Austin, overseeing regional sales and support, and as deputy director in San Diego, where she managed multiple clients. Before joining TSMC, Castanares held customer management roles at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and National Semiconductor Corporation.

On April 1, 2024, TSMC announced that Rick Cassidy, CEO and president of TSMC Arizona, would be promoted to chairman. Y.L. Wang, vice resident for Fab Operations I, took on the role of CEO, while Brian Harrison assumed the position of president.

Industry sources indicate that under Y.L. Wang's leadership, TSMC Arizona's first fab, which experienced several months of delays, is accelerating progress. The 4nm process is projected to enter mass production in the second quarter of 2025, with monthly capacity expected to reach 30,000 wafers by the first quarter of 2026.

TSMC's second fab is scheduled to begin equipment installation in the second half of 2026. Alongside the originally planned 3nm process, the facility will introduce 2nm technology. By the end of 2027, the combined monthly production capacity of the 4nm and 3nm processes is expected to reach around 50,000 wafers, with 2nm production starting in 2028. Additionally, TSMC has announced plans for a third fab, which is expected to incorporate 2nm or more advanced process technologies by 2030.

At JASM, Y.H. Liaw, vice president of Fab Operations II, has taken on the role of CEO in addition to his current responsibilities, with Yuichi Horita continuing as president. Meanwhile, at ESMC in Germany, the groundbreaking ceremony for the twelve-inch wafer fab in Dresden took place on August 20. Christian Koitzsch, former head of Robert Bosch GmbH's wafer plant, was appointed president in January. Recently, it was reported that , TSMC vice president of Fab Operations I, is expected to take on the CEO role.

Construction of the Dresden fab commenced in August 2024, with equipment installation set to begin in the third quarter of 2026. Mass production is expected to start by the fourth quarter of 2027, with a gradual ramp-up to reach a monthly production capacity of 40,000 wafers by 2028.

TSMC's overseas executive appointments underscore the company's efforts in cultivating mid-level talents such as Y.L. Wang, Y.H. Liaw, and Ray Chuang, while strategically partnering with local executives to manage operations and ensure smooth coordination.