Taiwan's Chiayi County is planning a new highway interchange to handle the traffic TSMC's expanding chip packaging plants are bringing in — good news for the area's growth, but relief is a decade away.

• TSMC's first advanced packaging plant at the Chiayi science park is already running, a second starts next year, and three more are planned through 2031.
• Roads around the park are already jammed at rush hour as workers pour in.
• The county has set aside NT$7 million for an early feasibility study on a new interchange linking local roads and the main north-south freeway.
• Approval, engineering, and environmental reviews mean this kind of project usually takes 10 to 15 years from study to opening.

Outlook: The study went out to tender in July, so planning starts soon, but congestion around the plants will keep getting worse long before any new road opens.