Construction on Kaohsiung’s Baipu Industrial Park started on Sept. 21. The park spans 88.73 hectares across Gangshan and Qiaotou, with about 53 hectares available for industrial use. Kaohsiung city has reserved 25 hectares for equipment makers and supply-chain companies involved in advanced back-end semiconductor processes. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) plans to build two buildings there and set up a validation line so equipment and materials can complete integration testing before entering mass-production facilities.
Park positioned as Taiwan’s first advanced packaging cluster
According to a report cited from Commercial Times, Baipu is being positioned as Taiwan’s first advanced packaging cluster. More than 20 semiconductor supply-chain companies were expected to attend the groundbreaking ceremony. Kaohsiung’s current semiconductor layout places advanced process capacity in Nanzih, advanced packaging and testing in Renwu, and materials and key components in Qiaotou. With Baipu moving ahead, the southern semiconductor “S corridor” is set to extend into the back-end equipment segment.
City officials estimate the park could generate about NT$300 billion in annual output and create around 4,500 jobs once development is in place.
TSMC moves advanced packaging equipment validation outside the production system
The report said this is the first time TSMC has placed an advanced packaging equipment validation platform outside its mass-production system. The site will introduce a modular “mini-loop” key-process verification line, along with scaled-down cleanrooms and laboratories, while also leaving room for suppliers to work on development nearby. Before equipment or materials are brought into TSMC’s production lines, issues involving machinery, control software, and process matching can be addressed at Baipu first.
In that sense, Baipu is not TSMC’s second advanced packaging plant. It is a validation checkpoint before mass production.
A TSMC executive said a single advanced packaging tool often takes more than a year to complete validation. Rather than building one fixed-spec full production line at Baipu, TSMC will use a reconfigurable setup based on demand. If a supplier’s prototype runs into problems, it can be moved to a nearby lab for modification and then returned to the line for another round of testing. Feedback cycles that once took weeks or months could be reduced to hours.
Validation efficiency target set at 25% to 50%
The executive said AI demand has accelerated capacity expansion for advanced packaging technologies such as CoWoS, while back-end equipment suppliers still lag far behind front-end equipment giants in scale and research resources. Baipu’s target is to raise validation efficiency by 25% to 50%.
The future validation scope is also expected to go beyond current wafer-level packaging. Panel-level packaging, chiplets, and 3DIC are all on the extension list.
South side reserved for TSMC, north side aimed at global tenants
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs previously said the southern section of Baipu would be reserved for TSMC to establish two centers, while a briefing for the northern section was scheduled for mid-September and aimed at international companies. Because land demand has exceeded expectations, Kaohsiung city plans to move next on a second-phase development on the park’s western side. On Aug. 13, the ministry also submitted a pilot plan to the Executive Yuan to redesignate Baipu as a technology industrial park.
As for who will land first, the report said phase-one land is already fully taken. TSMC is on the south side, while companies on the north side have already communicated their timelines and land requirements to the city government. There is also market talk that ASE Technology Holding Co. may build two plants in Baipu, though that has not been confirmed by the company. ASE, together with WinWay and Hong Teng, broke ground in Renwu in April this year on a high-end testing cluster with combined investment of more than NT$108.3 billion.
Tenant list and transport links are key watch points
The first batch of signed tenants and the construction progress of TSMC’s two buildings are now among the clearest indicators for the industry to watch. Kaohsiung city has also said that, besides TSMC, another international company has proposed an entry schedule and land requirements, though its identity has not been disclosed.
During a city council session, a councilor warned that Baipu’s external transport links rely almost entirely on provincial highways and that there is no effective connection with the neighboring Qiaotou Science Park. The councilor called for plans for a 60-meter access road to be brought forward and extended to Provincial Highway 17, criticizing any approach that would “build the park first and patch in transport later.”
When the park passed its environmental impact assessment in February 2025, local groups argued for a smaller development footprint and more space for flood detention and ecological conservation. Whether those supporting measures can keep pace with factory construction is likely to show up directly in the pace of future tenant recruitment.