Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, started mass-producing logic semiconductors in December at its first Japanese plant in the town of Kikuyo in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Three years after the firm announced its plan to build the plant in Kumamoto, chip-related capital investment surged in the Kyushu region, leading to growing expectations for a return to being "Silicon Island" — as the region has been known since the 1970s, when semiconductor firms began to build factories there.

Several challenges lie ahead. Are local companies succeeding in entering TSMC’s supply chain? Is the region breaking away from being a mere production base?