C.C. Wei, the chairman of Taiwan’s semiconductor giant TSMC, visited Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae at her office in Tokyo on February 5.

According to Japanese government officials, TSMC has finalized its plan to mass produce cutting-edge semiconductors in Kumamoto Prefecture, a first for Japan, and directly informed Takaichi about the matter.

The company plans to mass produce chips with a circuit line width of 3 nanometers.

The officials said the scale of capital investment is expected to reach 17 billion dollars, equivalent to roughly 2.67 trillion yen.

Wei said the 3-nanometer semiconductors will contribute to the growth of the regional economy through state-of-the-art technology and form the foundation of AI technology.