Reuters reported on Oct. 22, 2026, that TSMC had surveyed suppliers about motors that do not require rare-earth materials for factory-automation equipment. Two sources described the discussions as early-stage, and the report said they had not led to a broad rollout. TSMC declined to comment to Reuters.
The inquiry concerns factory equipment
The reported scope is motors in factory-automation equipment, which move machine components during manufacturing. That places the inquiry at the level of factory equipment rather than the materials used to make wafers or customer chips.
One source linked TSMC’s supplier inquiry to concern about possible supply disruptions tied to China’s export controls. In 2025, China placed controls requiring licenses on certain rare-earth materials, magnets and related processing technologies.
A motor designed not to require rare-earth materials would address that material dependency itself. Switching vendors for the same rare-earth component would leave the dependency in place.
Motor designs involve different trade-offs
As general technical alternatives, Tom’s Hardware describes induction motors, switched-reluctance motors and motors using ferrite magnets. These approaches can avoid rare-earth magnets, but they may differ in efficiency, size, power density, precision and control requirements. Those trade-offs matter when choosing a motor for automated equipment, where the motor has to suit the machine’s job.
Taiwan has a separate rare-earth project
A separate Taiwanese proposal involving the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the Department of Industrial Technology calls for a pilot line with a three-year development horizon. The project could meet about 50% of Taiwan’s domestic rare-earth demand. It is separate from TSMC’s supplier inquiry.
