TSMC Customers Request Construction of Additional AI Chip Fabs

[T0@st]

Morris Chang, TSMC's founder and semiconductor industry icon, was present at the opening ceremony of his company's new semiconductor fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. According to a Nikkei Asia article, Chang predicted that the nation will experience "a chip renaissance" during his February 24 commencement speech. The Japanese government also announced that it will supply an additional ¥732 billion ($4.86 billion) in subsidies for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to expand semiconductor operations on the island of Kyūshū. Economy Minister Ken Saito stated: "TSMC is the most important partner for Japan in realizing digital transformation, and its Kumamoto factory is an important contributor for us to stably procure cutting-edge logic chips that is extremely essential for the future of industries in Japan."

Chang disclosed some interesting insights during last weekend's conference segment—according to Nikkei's report, he revealed that unnamed TSMC customers had made some outlandish requests: "They are not talking about tens of thousands of wafers. They are talking about fabs, (saying): 'We need so many fabs. We need three fabs, five fabs, 10 fabs.' Well, I can hardly believe that one." The Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant reportedly has the resources to create a new "Gigafab" within reasonable timeframes, but demands for (up to) ten new plants are extremely fanciful. Chang set expectations at a reasonable level—he predicted that demand for AI processors would lie somewhere in the middle ground: "between tens of thousands of wafers and tens of fabs." Past insider reports suggested that OpenAI has been discussing the formation of a proprietary fabrication network, with proposed investments of roughly $5 to $7 trillion. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, reportedly engaged in talks with notable contract chip manufacturers—The Wall Street Journal posited that TSMC would be an ideal partner.



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[mb194dc]

Semis always boom bust... There's a huge lag to ramp production up. Even the new US fabs are likely excess to demand.

The main problem for LLMs "AI" is finding a front end use case that people will pay hundreds of billions of $ for, or finding use cases that cut costs similarly.

That just to justify the money invested in the hardware so far. Got to justify the cost of those 20k+ pieces of hardware.

Everything do far, like chat bots and video creation, translation is "small beer" niches.

 

[vbq7qK68eyYAH4iR]

You Must Construct Additional Pylons

 

[Space Lynx]

You Must Construct Additional Pylons

golden comment of the day

Semis always boom bust... There's a huge lag to ramp production up. Even the new US fabs are likely excess to demand.

The main problem for LLMs "AI" is finding a front end use case that people will pay hundreds of billions of $ for, or finding use cases that cut costs similarly.

That just to justify the money invested in the hardware so far. Got to justify the cost of those 20k+ pieces of hardware.

Everything do far, like chat bots and video creation, translation is "small beer" niches.

I agree, and the worst part is some of the new factories that aren't even built yet are designed for older nodes... it makes no sense to me. but eh

 

[RUSerious]

Semis always boom bust... There's a huge lag to ramp production up. Even the new US fabs are likely excess to demand.

Yes. Intel delayed it's Ohio fab because of this (I think the building is done, but not tools installed for production).

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Yes. Intel delayed it's Ohio fab because of this (I think the building is done, but not tools installed for production).

Intel is building two factories at the Ohio site. One has almost completed main and auxiliary buildings. There should also be information about the other one somewhere. But in fact, the photo visually shows that at the beginning of February, the terrain was prepared, but without the start of construction.

credit Tom's hardware.

In fact, it is entirely possible that the areas I have fenced off are not part of a construction site at all. You can blame my imagination.

 

[Readlight]

Probably to make war drones.

 

[kondamin]

Probably to make war drones.

I doubt those need very advanced hardware.

 

[user556]

In fact, it is entirely possible that the areas I have fenced off are not part of a construction site at all. You can blame my imagination.

Indeed, that's not a photo at all. It's a 3D render.