Taiwan’s Full Chain plans chip equipment production unit in TN

CHENNAI: Taiwan-based semiconductor materials firm Full Chain plans to open an equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, according to people aware of the development.

The company has already established a design centre and a research and development centre in the state and plans to provide various services, including environmental, social and governance advisory and thermal management-related services for semiconductor fabs and outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) units.

Sources close to the development said the company plans to establish a semiconductor equipment making facility and is currently evaluating the product that could be made. It has identified land banks and is in talks with the govt for figuring out the financial support.

The facility will either be located in Chennai or Trichy in a govt industrial park and the location will be finalised based on the nature of the equipment. The plant might come up in Chennai, if it is an export-focused equipment, the sources added.

Meanwhile, Full Chain recently established a R&D centre in Trichy focusing on carbon capture and energy efficiency in chip making.

“We have been working for years on thermal management solutions for high-performance electronics. Now, we are using that experience to build cleantech solutions to reduce CO₂ emissions from semiconductor factories. We are developing small and efficient CO₂ capture systems that can be added directly to the factory exhaust pipes or air systems, while maintaining cleanroom integrity,” Ricky Chen, chief executive of Full Chain said in a statement.



“The key is our advanced filter materials. They can trap CO₂ even at low levels, and can be cleaned and reused easily, which helps save both energy and cost,” it said.

The centre was established at Anna University (BIT), Trichy campus along with Anna Business Incubation Research Foundation (ABIRF). The Taiwanese company already has a design centre in the city. As the semiconductor fab and OSAT units develop in the country, it creates a demand for domestic equipment suppliers. Recently, US-based Yield Engineering Systems (YES) has started shipping semiconductor equipment from its facility in Coimbatore.


This comes at the time when Tamil Nadu tries to build domestic chip ecosystem eyeing equipment, chip design and testing parts of the supply chain. It has announced dedicated equipment manufacturing parks to be established in Sulur, Coimbatore and near Palladam, both spanning 100 acres. The govt has also proposed a five-year semiconductor mission with Rs 500 crore capex. TOI previously reported that the govt is talking with at least three strategic companies from US, Malaysia and Taiwan and discussions are the govt is finalising the contours of the programme.