Four construction workers died after falling from the TSMC F22 P4 expansion project in Kaohsiung on Monday afternoon, according to Taiwan’s Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration and a statement from the chipmaker on Wednesday confirming the death toll.
The accident halted steel-structure lifting at the P4 building, one of the most visible pieces of TSMC’s multibillion-dollar push to add advanced fabrication capacity in southern Taiwan. Investigators are focusing on a failed connection plate bolt on the building’s third floor, which park officials said appeared to give way while a crew was installing steel beams.
How the fall unfolded
The administration said four employees of contractor Shang Hao Machinery Co. were performing steel hoisting and installation when a bolt on an exterior connection plate on the third level fractured. Workers and steel components plunged from height, triggering an emergency response from Kaohsiung fire services at the Houjing Road campus.
Central News Agency reported the incident shortly after 4 p.m. on October 20. By Monday evening, three men had been declared dead and a fourth was in intensive care. TSMC told Reuters on Wednesday that all four workers had died, without releasing additional forensic detail.
Work stoppage and oversight
Park administrators ordered an immediate stop to P4 steel lifting pending a full safety review. They said teams would clarify the root cause, support bereaved families, and pursue any occupational-safety penalties required under Taiwanese law.
Liberty Times reported that officials pushed back against suggestions that schedule pressure caused the failure, stressing that the preliminary finding pointed to hardware on the connection plate rather than a rushed construction timeline. TSMC referred questions about future process technology and completion dates to its formal disclosures, noting that fab planning sits with the company’s operations teams.
Stakes for Kaohsiung’s fab build-out
The F22 complex is part of TSMC’s effort to cluster leading-edge and support facilities in Kaohsiung’s Nanzi District, a politically sensitive project that local leaders have promoted as an anchor for southern Taiwan’s economy. Any serious contractor accident draws scrutiny from labor groups and opposition lawmakers who argue that Taiwan’s semiconductor boom has outpaced enforcement capacity.
Monday’s deaths are among the most severe industrial incidents tied to the Kaohsiung expansion since major earthworks began. They arrive as the company continues hiring and contracting thousands of workers for shell buildings, utilities, and tool-installation phases that stretch years beyond structural steel.
What happens next
Occupational safety agencies typically conduct parallel inspections after fatalities on major science-park sites, interviewing supervisors, reviewing lift plans, and testing recovered hardware. Shang Hao Machinery has not issued a public statement beyond cooperating with investigators, according to local media accounts.
TSMC said it is coordinating with authorities and extending support to families. Until steel work resumes, the accident is likely to slow visible progress on P4 even if other trades continue elsewhere on the campus — a reminder that Taiwan’s chip build-out depends on thousands of subcontractor shifts executed at height every week.