Insiders Claim TSMC Arizona Fab to Start Trial Run in Early 2024

[T0@st]

Mass production at TSMC's Phoenix, Arizona Fab 21 facility has been delayed until 2025, but the top brass are keen to get some activity started at their North American foundry—it is possible that they want to avoid potential contract breaches, caused by various setbacks. Taiwan's Money DJ (interpreted by TrendForce) reports that a pilot scheme will be implemented by the first quarter of 2024—industry sources believe that a small batch trial run will result in 4000 to 5000 wafer starts per month (WSPM). Setup delays have dropped projected efficiency ratings—analysts reckon that the Arizona plant cannot match the sheer effectiveness of operations back in Taiwan.

TrendForce cites a number of factors, including: "a shortage of skilled equipment installation personnel, local union protests, and differences in overseas safety regulations have caused delays in equipment installation." TSMC chairman Mark Liu expressed optimism about the situation earlier this month—citing significant progress (at the Fab 21 site) over the past five months as an early sign of success for the project. Insiders claim that TSMC is considering a major upgrade of its currently in-construction Japanese facility—extra capacity at the existing location and a second foundry could be on the table.



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[ymdhis]

Heard somewhere that the Arizone fab won't really help all that much because the chips will still need to be sent to Taiwan for packaging, which makes its value questionable given that one of the goals was getting more independence from the asian fabs by locally producing chips.

 

[AnotherReader]

Heard somewhere that the Arizone fab won't really help all that much because the chips will still need to be sent to Taiwan for packaging, which makes its value questionable given that one of the goals was getting more independence from the asian fabs by locally producing chips.

That isn't unique to this fab. Intel also sends its chips to Malaysia and other Asian countries for test and packaging.

 

[shoskunk]

This story arrives every 2-3 weeks with the same stance.. Puzzling.

"Setup delays have dropped projected efficiency ratings".

The above statement doesn't make much sense. Perhaps delay could lead to delay but I'm not sure how delay would effect efficiency ratings until actual wafer production commences and yields are defined. Hearsay for now.

 

[MachineLearning]

That isn't unique to this fab. Intel also sends its chips to Malaysia and other Asian countries for test and packaging.

Yep. AMD does the same, and had done so since at least the GlobalFoundaries days. (Diffused in Germany / USA, made in Malay / China)

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Heard somewhere that the Arizone fab won't really help all that much because the chips will still need to be sent to Taiwan for packaging, which makes its value questionable given that one of the goals was getting more independence from the asian fabs by locally producing chips.

I think America does have packaging facilities in Fishkill NY possibly elsewhere too.