Xintec Inc. (Majority stake acquisition over time)
2004
$80M
Why
TSMC built a controlling interest in Xintec, a wafer-level packaging and testing company that provided specialized backend semiconductor manufacturing services. The investment was part of TSMC's strategy to offer a more complete suite of semiconductor manufacturing services, extending its value chain beyond wafer fabrication into packaging and testing. Xintec's wafer-level chip scale packaging technology was increasingly important for compact electronic devices including mobile phones.
Impact
Xintec gave TSMC operational exposure to packaging technologies at a time when the industry was beginning to recognize that packaging innovation would become as important as transistor scaling for continued semiconductor performance improvement. This early exposure to wafer-level packaging informed TSMC's subsequent development of its InFO and CoWoS advanced packaging platforms, which have become critical competitive differentiators.
Outcome
Xintec continues to operate as a TSMC subsidiary focused on wafer-level packaging and MEMS manufacturing. While it operates at the mature technology end of the packaging spectrum, the organizational and technical knowledge it provided contributed to TSMC's broader advanced packaging competency that is now central to AI chip production strategies.