Tuesday, April 9th 2024
US Backs TSMC's $65B Arizona Investment with $11.6B Support Package
According to the latest report from Bloomberg, the US government under Joe Biden's administration has announced plans to provide Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) with a substantial financial support package worth $11.6 billion. The package is composed of $6.6 billion in grants and up to $5 billion in loans. This represents the most significant financial assistance approved under the CHIPS and Science Act, a key initiative to resurrect the US chip industry. The funding will aid TSMC in establishing three cutting-edge semiconductor production facilities in Arizona, with the company's total investment in the state expected to exceed an impressive $65 billion. TSMC's multi-phase Arizona project will commence with the construction of a fab module near its existing Fab 21 facility. Production using 4 nm and 5 nm process nodes is slated to begin by early 2025. The second phase, scheduled for 2028, will focus on even more advanced 2 nm and 3 nm technologies.
TSMC has kept details about the third facility's production timeline and process node under wraps. The company's massive investment in Arizona is expected to profoundly impact the local economy, creating 6,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs and over 20,000 construction positions. Moreover, $50 million has been earmarked for training local workers, which aligns with President Joe Biden's goal of bolstering domestic manufacturing and technological independence. However, TSMC's Arizona projects have encountered obstacles, including labor disputes and uncertainties regarding government support, resulting in delays for the second facility's production timeline. Additionally, reports suggest that at least one TSMC supplier has abandoned plans to set up operations in Arizona due to workforce-related challenges.
Source:
via Tom's Hardware
TSMC has kept details about the third facility's production timeline and process node under wraps. The company's massive investment in Arizona is expected to profoundly impact the local economy, creating 6,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs and over 20,000 construction positions. Moreover, $50 million has been earmarked for training local workers, which aligns with President Joe Biden's goal of bolstering domestic manufacturing and technological independence. However, TSMC's Arizona projects have encountered obstacles, including labor disputes and uncertainties regarding government support, resulting in delays for the second facility's production timeline. Additionally, reports suggest that at least one TSMC supplier has abandoned plans to set up operations in Arizona due to workforce-related challenges.
19 Comments on US Backs TSMC's $65B Arizona Investment with $11.6B Support Package
Translation: Intel just has many more well-financed, well-established gov't cronies in their back pockets than those other companies do :D
TSMC is primarily based in Taiwan, if China decides...yea, then there would likely be some sort of impact from China on TSMC and trade with the US. If we have a foundry over here in the US, this may reduce that likelihood... at least that's what I think they might be thinking...but I'm sure there's money in it for them somewhere.
I'm also dumbfounded that, so many don't seem to think that it would be incredibly stupid of Intel to steal their client design, like many assume that they'll 100% do. Once you do that, it's over, nobody is going to trust you. Do you all really think that a company that's been around for so long, and who has been forced to open up their fabs because they couldn't sustain them with their own product, would do something so stupid? Do you also really think that the clients are to sign a contract that won't protect their IP, or that said are IP are not protected in the first place?
Intel sued AMD when they reverse engineered the 386. They lost because the US wanted to even the playing field.
AMD Wins Court Fight to Use of '386' on Intel Chip Clone - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)In the current state of the market, though, that won't fly. In both ways.
Pressuring the OEMs to not use the competitor CPU is one thing, IP theft is another one that doesn't just give them a bad image with consumers but would make them a persona non grata in the whole industry. That's business suicide.
You try to steal a design, you get sued, you lose the trial, then what? What do you have to show for it?
Even Samsung CEO who was caught doing shady thing, and went to jail never did that, even though they fabbed SoC for QUALCOMM, and GPUs for Nvidia.
Intel Foundry is a fab that has something at least close to the density that TSMC has. No one else that is US-owned does. The govt also invested in Glofo and a bunch of other foundries. This has nothing to do with consumer chip designs.Those guys would sell each other down the river in a heartbeat. "We need this funding for national security" is a hard sell when you're investing in foreign-owned assets.
Even if China invaded Taiwan and lost, the world economy would be toast for a good long while.
While I don't agree with many of the billions the US does and does not spend, this is a smart strategic investment.
Also, as far as Intel is concerned, yes they can fab more of their own chips but again in a scenario where the US needs to get chips (maybe clean, domestic ones for strategic purposes) then it behooves us to have an American company with American fabs producing American chips. If AMD still owned Global Foundries, you'd bet your ass they'd be getting some of this cheddar too.
A potential (unlikely but potential) bonus of all this extra fab capacity is cheaper electronics for a while as Intel and TSMC over produce (just like our Farm Bills have farmers overgrow crops to ensure there are no shortages) and drive prices down.
hire me as the site selector lol