Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is reportedly considering spending more than NT$30 billion to acquire AUO’s L7 and L5C legacy-generation panel fabs in Central Taiwan Science Park, near TSMC facilities, to reserve land for large-format packaging such as CoPoS and FOPLP. People familiar with the matter said TSMC personnel have completed an onsite audit, while AUO plans to prioritize disposing of the two sites, submit the proposal to its board in October and complete production-line relocation and factory clearance by the end of the first quarter next year. Neither company has confirmed the deal. The potential transaction fits TSMC’s expansion from A14 advanced manufacturing and advanced packaging into its COUPE silicon-photonics platform, alongside Taichung’s role as a hub for precision optical components, with the aim of building a CPO ecosystem in Central Taiwan. TSMC’s existing Fab 15A there mainly produces 28-nanometer chips and can support silicon-interposer manufacturing; its Central Taiwan Phase II Fab 25 project includes four planned A14 fabs, with the first two already in steel-frame construction and the first facility targeted for completion by April 2027. Existing advanced-packaging site AP5 has begun CoWoS production and is expected to integrate electronic and photonic chips through COUPE. On the optical side, Largan Precision recently acquired land and factory properties in Taichung’s Nantun district, Taichung Industrial Park and nearby precision-machinery clusters in three transactions totaling about NT$2.568 billion. The market has interpreted those purchases as preparation for CPO mass production. Largan has secured its first mass-production order for fiber arrays, aims to complete its first automated pilot line by the end of the third quarter and could begin mass production as early as mid-2027, while also developing microlens arrays and integrated FAUs.