TSMC locks in 30-year offshore wind deal as Taiwan's gas supply buckles

TSMC signed a 30-year power purchase agreement covering the entire output of Northland Power’s Hai Long offshore wind project, more than 1 gigawatt across three sites in the Taiwan Strait. Parts of the project are already feeding the grid, with full operation expected by 2027 and capacity equivalent to powering over a million Taiwanese households.

The timing is not coincidental. Taiwan generates roughly half its electricity from natural gas plants and keeps only about two weeks of fuel in reserve. After Iranian drone strikes on Qatari facilities in March 2026 knocked out a third of Taiwan’s usual LNG supply and disrupted Strait of Hormuz shipping, the island has been scrambling for alternative gas from Australia and the US to avoid blackouts.

For TSMC, whose fabs are among the most power-hungry industrial loads on the planet, the deal is both a hedge against fossil-fuel volatility and a structural bet on renewables as AI chip demand pushes its energy footprint higher. It also quietly reframes a chipmaker as a major underwriter of Taiwan’s energy transition.