Thursday, May 14th 2020
TSMC Building a 5nm Fab in Arizona as the U.S. Government Gets Involved
It has become a matter of national strategy (or pride) to get TSMC to build a cutting-edge silicon fabrication facility on U.S. soil. Hot on the heals of a report in which TSMC denied it has any plans to build a fab in the U.S., we're learning from a Wall Street Journal that the world's largest independent semiconductor manufacturing company, will build a facility in the U.S. after all. Apparently TSMC will build a silicon fabrication facility in the state of Arizona. The fab will manufacture 5 nm-class chips, to begin with.
TSMC got around to drawing up plans to build a stateside facility after the "involvement" of the State- and Commerce Departments of the U.S. Government. The two are involved not just in coaxing TSMC, but also in the specifics of the planning to get them to the Grand Canyon state. The Donald Trump administration made significant national policy changes with manufacturing, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant wait times in getting silicon products from Asia to the US.
Update 01:25 UTC: TSMC made its U.S. fab plans official with an announcement. Press release and additional commentary below.
This facility, which will be built in Arizona, will utilize TSMC's 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity, create over 1,600 high-tech professional jobs directly, and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem. Construction is planned to start in 2021 with production targeted to begin in 2024. TSMC's total spending on this project, including capital expenditure, will be approximately US$12 billion from 2021 to 2029. This U.S. facility not only enables us to better support our customers and partners, it also gives us more opportunities to attract global talents. This project is of critical, strategic importance to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that enables leading U.S. companies to fabricate their cutting-edge semiconductor products within the United States and benefit from the proximity of a world-class semiconductor foundry and ecosystem.
TSMC welcomes continued strong partnership with the U.S. administration and the State of Arizona on this project. This project will require significant capital and technology investments from TSMC. The strong investment climate in the United States, and its talented workforce make this and future investments in the U.S. attractive to TSMC. U.S. adoption of forward-looking investment policies to enable a globally competitive environment for a leading edge semiconductor technology operation in the U.S. will be crucial to the success of this project. It will also give us the confidence this and other future investments by TSMC and its supply chain companies will be successful.
In the United States, TSMC currently operates a fab in Camas, Washington and design centers in both Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. The Arizona facility would be TSMC's second manufacturing site in the United States.
We also recently covered a China Times report pointing at Intel being one of TSMC's 5 nm-class customers, possibly for its future-generation Xe HP scalar processors, which constitute high-technology. HPC chips are low-volume, high-margin products, and so the U.S. could find it in its strategic interest to see them manufactured on home soil.
Source:
Wall Street Journal
TSMC got around to drawing up plans to build a stateside facility after the "involvement" of the State- and Commerce Departments of the U.S. Government. The two are involved not just in coaxing TSMC, but also in the specifics of the planning to get them to the Grand Canyon state. The Donald Trump administration made significant national policy changes with manufacturing, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant wait times in getting silicon products from Asia to the US.
TSMC Press Release
TSMC today announced its intention to build and operate an advanced semiconductor fab in the United States with the mutual understanding and commitment to support from the U.S. federal government and the State of Arizona.This facility, which will be built in Arizona, will utilize TSMC's 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity, create over 1,600 high-tech professional jobs directly, and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem. Construction is planned to start in 2021 with production targeted to begin in 2024. TSMC's total spending on this project, including capital expenditure, will be approximately US$12 billion from 2021 to 2029. This U.S. facility not only enables us to better support our customers and partners, it also gives us more opportunities to attract global talents. This project is of critical, strategic importance to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that enables leading U.S. companies to fabricate their cutting-edge semiconductor products within the United States and benefit from the proximity of a world-class semiconductor foundry and ecosystem.
TSMC welcomes continued strong partnership with the U.S. administration and the State of Arizona on this project. This project will require significant capital and technology investments from TSMC. The strong investment climate in the United States, and its talented workforce make this and future investments in the U.S. attractive to TSMC. U.S. adoption of forward-looking investment policies to enable a globally competitive environment for a leading edge semiconductor technology operation in the U.S. will be crucial to the success of this project. It will also give us the confidence this and other future investments by TSMC and its supply chain companies will be successful.
In the United States, TSMC currently operates a fab in Camas, Washington and design centers in both Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. The Arizona facility would be TSMC's second manufacturing site in the United States.
TechPowerUp Commentary
The key words in the above press release are "build and operate," and excludes ownership. It looks like the U.S. government has talked TSMC into limiting its financial exposure, by simply franchising itself to a U.S.-based entity that will foot the bill of this venture.We also recently covered a China Times report pointing at Intel being one of TSMC's 5 nm-class customers, possibly for its future-generation Xe HP scalar processors, which constitute high-technology. HPC chips are low-volume, high-margin products, and so the U.S. could find it in its strategic interest to see them manufactured on home soil.
58 Comments on TSMC Building a 5nm Fab in Arizona as the U.S. Government Gets Involved
Brexit happened years after his demise, so his protests didn't go unheard. No more disinterested involvement.I don't think it was the industry, it was the marketplace having the final say. It is more fundamental than competition, like when US split up Bell, it was the footsteps of the coming globalisation. They did it in order to maintain control of the market then, look how it turned up now.
Essentially they alienated their own person from the market direction. It was an act of suicide, imo.
Globalism puts us all against the lowest common denominator. The theory of it "democratizing the East" have been thoroughly broken, its clear now that rather than raise the standard of living, that either everyone lives in abject poverty, or someone would have to break the Globalism train and prioritize their own economy, via tariffs, investments, bans on imports, VAT, ece.Teflon Don could build it out of his own pocket and give all the base level employees $100K signing bonuses, and people would still find a reason to blame him for it. Our tax money is wasted on god knows how many pork projects and worthless causes and corrupt organizations, at least this would give us a tangible benefit.Many of the early foundries are now Superfund sites in the US. Processor manufacturing is a filthy process, and environmental controls made it far cheaper to produce in a country that doesnt care about its environment, see the industrializing Asia of the 70s and 80s. Same goes for many other industries, the slave wages and lack of environmental wages allowed them to make an absolute killing.
Now they are running into a problem. The industrialized China is demanding higher wages and its getting harder to fill factory jobs. IP theft is getting more expensive by the day. Countries like vietnam and taiwan are starting to care more about their environments and are getting very expensive to use. Places like Cambodia and Bangladesh lack the infrastructure to replace china and its workforce. Places like India are too protectionist, Africa's infrastructure and education are sorely lacking, and the middle east is a continual powder keg. The cheap labor pool ran out way faster then was predicted, and with an economic recession on the cards traditionally powerful markets like the US are looking rosier long term.
It is the same stuff really, being the master of the domain. You can prance all you want, however it, in the end, matters only if you are self-content, or not. Debasing your values has the opposite effect to the sensation you are seeking.
PS: misering.
I don't much understand(don't believe it, I'm being humble) why you lot enjoy extending beyond your reach. Yes, it is a good motivationally speaking, but it sure seems like having low standards which is ultimately bad on all of our accounts in the end. You need good company for good companionship.
With how bad the job market is in my area, I welcome any new opportunities.
Wonder where in the state they'll build it...
www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/4/10/18296793/foxconn-wisconsin-location-factory-innovation-centers-technology-hub-no-news
It's a wait and see to believe it tbh. It's a massive investment.
I mean isn't it better to have it in the Northern states ?
Keep in mind that the USA's military industrial complex supplies a great part of the world with military hardware (e.g. F-35). USA's military partners are counting on USA to keep Chinese espionage at bay and that's really hard to do when China is so good at making fakes and supply chains travel through China.China thinks it owns Taiwan as per "One China" policy. As China becomes more and more hostile to the rest of the world (and its own people)...it's sowing fear among those people that may not know freedom much longer. Arizona...is out of China's reach. If China does seize Taiwan and all of Taiwan's manufacturing with it, TSMC will have a backstop to grow from.
I mean...AMD/NVIDIA/Apple will probably buy all the wafers out of that fab anyway so it's not like it's a very risky investment. Investing in Taiwan is much, much riskier right now.