Tacoma Nanjing
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Tacoma (Nanjing) Semiconductor Technology Co. Ltd. was a government-backed semiconductor project in the Nanjing Economic and Technology Development Zone, launched in 2016 as a major local investment project. The $2.8 billion plan was to build an 8-inch wafer fabrication plant plus supporting producers covering the whole chip-production chain, part of China's drive to make 40% of the semiconductors it used by 2020. Chairman Li Ruiwei (Joseph Lee) promised the city it would not need government funding and he would find outside investors - but at the 2016 ribbon-cutting there was still no outside funding. Construction halted in March 2019 with the fab 90% built, and in 2020 the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court ordered the company into compulsory liquidation and bankruptcy.
02 / Tacoma Nanjing FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Tacoma Nanjing failed for a classic reason among China's local-government chip projects: it launched a $2.8 billion fab with no outside investors - 'the idea was to go ahead with the project and look for money as you go,' a person close to the project told Caixin. The Nanjing city government put in 384 million yuan ($54.9 million), but the lack of other investors made the project unable to continue, said chairman Li Ruiwei. Construction halted in March 2019 amid a capital crunch, and with no rescue funding, the court ordered compulsory liquidation in 2020. The failure was part of a wave of collapsed provincial chip projects that prompted China to cool its semiconductor push.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company registered
Tacoma (Nanjing) Semiconductor Technology Co. Ltd. was registered; the project was launched in 2016 as a major investment project of the Nanjing Economic and Technology Development Zone.
- Construction halted
Construction of the 8-inch wafer fab was halted in March 2019 amid a capital crunch, with the plant 90% built; the Nanjing government had invested 384 million yuan but no outside investors came.
- Bankruptcy ordered
The Nanjing Intermediate People's Court ordered Tacoma (Nanjing) Semiconductor Technology into compulsory liquidation and bankruptcy (Caixin, July 2020).
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Tacoma (Nanjing) Semiconductor Technology Co. Ltd. was ordered into compulsory liquidation and bankruptcy by the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in 2020.
- 02
The 8-inch wafer fab was left 90% built; the Nanjing city government had invested 384 million yuan ($54.9 million); outside investors never materialized.
- 03
Chairman Li Ruiwei (Joseph Lee) acknowledged the capital crunch that halted construction.