Kaohsiung City

Taiwan's second city is reinventing itself from industrial port to semiconductor hub. Kaohsiung's traditional identity—steel, petrochemicals, shipbuilding, and one of Asia's largest container ports (18.9M tonnes, 9.8M TEU annually)—is being overlaid with TSMC's southern expansion. Five fabs are planned; the first begins mass production early 2025, six months ahead of schedule.

The transformation is deliberate. TSMC's investment drives urban development: 8,000 jobs from the five facilities alone, plus supplier employment, housing demand, and service sector growth. The city built four water recycling plants (110,000-120,000 tonnes/day capacity) and ultra-high voltage power infrastructure specifically for chip manufacturing. Nvidia and Cisco are establishing presence, forming the "Southern Semiconductor S Corridor."

Kaohsiung demonstrates how port cities adapt post-globalization. Container traffic remains vital, but the value-add shifts from logistics to manufacturing. Heavy industry undergoes digital transformation enabled by the same infrastructure (power, water, transport) that served old economy sectors.

2026 trajectory: P4 and P5 fab construction begins; high-end process development proceeds. Kaohsiung competes with Tainan and Hsinchu for semiconductor investment while leveraging port advantages for equipment import. The city bets that becoming a global semiconductor hub outweighs declining traditional industry.