TSMC will manufacture its most advanced chips in the US after the Biden administration pledged up to $11.6 billion in funding. TSMC said it will build a third factory in Arizona, adding to two others already under construction. The company’s first factory there is expected to be operational by 2025 and will produce 4nm chips. The second is expected to produce 3nm and 2nm chips by 2028.
The world's largest chip foundry will receive up to $6.6 billion in direct funding from the U.S. government and may borrow an additional $5 billion, the largest U.S. government financing to date for a foreign chipmaker. Following the latest deal, TSMC has agreed to increase its total investment in the U.S. by more than 60 percent to more than $65 billion from $40 billion previously.
The funding is tied to the CHIPS Act of 2022, which aims to rebuild the country’s semiconductor manufacturing industry after decades of lagging behind Asia. Intel has been promised nearly $20 billion in grants and loans to help it return to its glory days. The American chipmaker plans to build factories in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon.
Lael Brainard, President Biden's chief economic adviser, called TSMC's commitment to manufacturing cutting-edge semiconductors on American soil "a new chapter for the American semiconductor industry."
TSMC is one of the key players in the chip industry, operating the most advanced computer chip factories (fabs) for other companies focused on design (fabless). For example, the iPhone uses 3nm chips designed by Apple and manufactured by TSMC, while Nvidia also relies on TSMC to build the highly complex chips used to train AI systems.
The smaller the nanometer (nm) size, the more advanced and powerful the chip. Only TSMC, Intel and Samsung can continue to push the limits of semiconductor development, all three are racing to put 2nm chips into production by the end of 2025. Currently, TSMC is manufacturing the most advanced chips in Taiwan (China).
The fabless model allows many companies to access modern manufacturing plants without investing billions of dollars in clean rooms and lithography machines. But TSMC’s dominance means that a large part of the world economy depends on products from Taiwan.
According to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, TSMC's new investment could create at least 6,000 direct high-tech jobs and more than 20,000 jobs during construction, as well as tens of thousands of indirect jobs. It promises to bring many economic benefits to Arizona.
Ms. Raimondo said 14 suppliers are planning to build or expand factories in Arizona or elsewhere in the United States to support TSMC’s plants. TSMC accounts for 70% of its customers and has expressed a clear desire to buy American-made chips.
TSMC’s efforts to build its first chip factory in the US have not gone smoothly, with challenges including a labor shortage and lengthy licensing delays that have pushed back the expected production date by a year.
Many TSMC employees will fly in from Taiwan to oversee the construction of the plant, according to an unnamed US official, a significant factor considering that TSMC has 22 plants in Taiwan since the last time the US built an advanced chip factory.
Raimondo said more aid announcements are expected in the coming weeks. South Korean semiconductor companies Samsung and SK Hynix have also announced billions of dollars in investments in the US and are expected to receive funding from Washington.
In Japan, TSMC was promised 1.2 trillion yen ($7.9 billion) in subsidies for two plants in Kumamoto, while Samsung and Micron received financial support equivalent to more than 40% of their investments.
(According to The Guardian, Nikkei)
Source
Comment (0)