On January 26, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company successfully laid the foundation stone for FAB 18 wafer fab in Taiwan Southern Science Industrial Park (STSP). This is TSMC's fourth 300MM wafer fab in Taiwan and will also put into production the new 5NM process for the first time. TSMC plans to complete the construction of the new factory in the first quarter of 2019 and start the relocation of equipment, trial production in the second quarter of 2019, and mass production of 5NM in early 2020. The second phase of FAB 18 will start construction in the third quarter of this year, mass production in 2020, the third phase of construction in the third quarter of 2019 and the mass production in 2021. TSMC said that after all the three phases of the project were put into operation, annual production capacity of FAB 18 will reach 1 million 300MM wafer. Zhang Zhongmou, chairman of TSMC, who will retire in June this year, participated in such an important start-up ceremony for the last time. He said: "FAB 18 represents the three major commitments of TSMC: commitment to future development, commitment to continuous technological advancement, and commitment to Taiwan. The investment in 5NM technology is estimated at 700 billion Taiwan dollars (about 152 billion yuan), among which FAB 18 investment will be more than 500 billion Taiwan dollars (about 108 billion yuan.) " TSMC currently has more than 10,000 employees in the STSP, the completion of FAB 18 will provide more than 14,000 jobs. The TSMC 5NM FINFET process will optimize high-performance computing and mobile applications and introduce EUV lithography for the first time, reducing the complexity of multiple exposures and better reducing die area. TSMC also reiterated that 3NM factory will also be located in Taiwan's future STSP, will not go to the United States. According to Zhang Zhongmou earlier statement, TSMC will start the construction of 3NM factory in 2020.