Despite geopolitical unrest surrounding Asia's top chip economy, leading US supplier of chipmaking materials Entegris says it is dedicated to investing in Taiwan as it establishes the company's "most advanced" manufacturing facility there.

Before the official opening of its $500 million facility in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Bertrand Loy, president and chief executive of Entegris, said, "Our investment is just a sign of the conviction we have in the future of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan."

The big news is that this will be our most advanced manufacturing centre, making it the largest investment our company has ever made.The best filters will be produced in Taiwan if you wish to reach 2-nanometer, 1-nanometer, or smaller [electronics].

The sophistication and power of semiconductors increase as the nanometre scale decreases. The top three chip manufacturers in the world, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics, and Intel, are currently competing to develop cutting-edge chips with a thickness of 3 nanometers or less.

Entegris is the leading provider of cutting-edge filters and containers required to guarantee the purity of chemicals and liquids used in chip and display manufacturing. These materials are becoming more and more important as semiconductor manufacturing becomes more complex, leaving less room for errors.

According to Loy, Entegris would produce the most sophisticated filters, containers, and dielectric materials for the company in Taiwan, with TSMC and the majority of other chip manufacturers across the world as clients. The company's workforce in Taiwan would increase from roughly 700 personnel to more than 1,000, according to the chief executive. The new plant is now in test production, and until the second half of 2023, qualification will take place. In 2024, mass production is expected to start.