TSMC's Morris Chang Says Arizona Fab Will Produce 3 nm Chips in the Future

[TheLostSwede]

Although Morris Chang is no longer in charge of the day to day business at TSMC, the founder of the company is still getting his hands dirty. Chang attended the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting last week, as part of Taiwan's delegation and was questioned by the media about TSMC's future plans. The specific question was about TSMC's Arizona fab, which will initially produce chips using a 5 nm node. The US$12 billion plant is scheduled to kick off production at some point in 2024, by which time the 5 nm node should be a commonly used node rather than close to cutting edge.

When questioned about the future of the Arizona fab, Morris Chang answered that it will be moving to a 3 nm node, which is currently TSMC's most cutting edge node, that has gone into volume production earlier this year with th N3 node, which is set to be followed by the N3E node. According to Chang, there's interest by several countries to have TSMC set up fabs there, but apparently this is not something TSMC is considering at the moment. One potential reason for this would be a suitable labour force, something that has already proven to be tough for the Arizona fab.



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[sam_86314]

I wanted to take a picture of the fab when i went down to Phoenix last week. Kinda hard to do when I'm driving a work truck though.

Other than that, SB State Route 303 (which runs by it) has been closed so they can add a new interchange near the fab. So maybe that means they're close to completion.

 

[bonehead123]

The US$12 billion plant is scheduled to kick off production at some point in 2024, by which time the 5 nm node should be a commonly used node rather than close to cutting edge.

If they are still as smart as they've been in the past, they should just skip N3 & go straight to N1 or whatever is after that, so that when it does start actually producing chips in 2024, they will once again be at or near the cutting edge and able to maintain their top market position....

Also, just curious, but is that the VP in that photo, kinda looks a little like her, but not entirely sure.... would make sense though

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wanted to take a picture of the fab when i went down to Phoenix last week. Kinda hard to do when I'm driving a work truck though.

Other than that, SB State Route 303 (which runs by it) has been closed so they can add a new interchange near the fab. So maybe that means they're close to completion.

The building maybe, but the fab isn't set to start production until 2024. It normally takes six months to a year to get a fab kitted out once the construction work is done.

 

[AnotherReader]

If they are still as smart as they've been in the past, they should just skip N3 & go straight to N1 or whatever is after that, so that when it does start actually producing chips in 2024, they will once again be at or near the cutting edge and able to maintain their top market position....

Also, just curious, but is that the VP in that photo, kinda looks a little like her, but not entirely sure.... would make sense though

It's her; Reuters reports that she met Morris Chang at the APEC summit in Bangkok.

 

[ARF]

If they are still as smart as they've been in the past, they should just skip N3 & go straight to N1 or whatever is after that, so that when it does start actually producing chips in 2024, they will once again be at or near the cutting edge and able to maintain their top market position....

Also, just curious, but is that the VP in that photo, kinda looks a little like her, but not entirely sure.... would make sense though

Now most used - N7/N6
Now state-of-the-art - N5/N4
Now Apple - N3
Future - N2
Further future - N1

There is no interest in the top nodes, even from the likes of AMD, Intel and nvidia.

 

[bonehead123]

There is no interest in the top nodes, even from the likes of AMD, Intel and nvidia.

Perhaps not at the moment, but in 13+ months, maybe then, IF inflation settles down a bit and the covid situation continues to get better....

But, as we all know, those companies you listed, along with many others, start working on contracts for upcoming tech long before it is available or released, in order to secure a supply for their upcoming products

 

[AnotherReader]

Now most used - N7/N6
Now state-of-the-art - N5/N4
Now Apple - N3
Future - N2
Further future - N1

There is no interest in the top nodes, even from the likes of AMD, Intel and nvidia.

AMD was on the heels of Apple when it came to N7 adoption. However, N5 has been a different story; Apple started shipping products using N5 in late 2020. Given the update cadence of GPUs, it's unlikely that any of the two fabless GPU makers will be on a leading edge node shortly after its introduction.

 

[zlobby]

Well, d'oh! Did anyone expected another 28nm fab?

 

[saki630]

Anyone else left wondering if Arizona made 3nm chips in the past? If I was speaking for TSMC's new fab I would certainly say we will be making futuristic chip designs here, not old ones.

 

[phil995511]

With the political tensions that China imposes on us in the island of Taiwan, either TSMC secures all its production abroad, or they will lose their customers and their colossal investments in a few years...

China has been arming itself massively in recent years and has launched a major project to build a hundred silots for intercontinental nuclear missiles, I don't think it's preparations for fireworks to celebrate the Chinese New Year ;-(

In the end China behaves exactly like Russia, these so-called communist countries threaten the common wellness as well as world peace.

 

[Space Lynx]

No groundwater, no new homes, as Arizona severely restricts new housing

Cities, developers will have to turn to costly sources to build new homes.

arstechnica.com

lmao.

 

[AnotherReader]

No groundwater, no new homes, as Arizona severely restricts new housing

Cities, developers will have to turn to costly sources to build new homes.

arstechnica.com

lmao.

Have you read the Water knife by Paolo Bacigalupi? This is a good sign; the southwestern US is not hiding from reality. Now if they could all agree to share the Colorado more realistically. They still haven't gone far enough. The article you linked goes on to state:

Outside of Arizona’s major metropolitan areas, groundwater remains largely unregulated and used for water-intensive agriculture.

 

[Space Lynx]

Have you read the Water knife by Paolo Bacigalupi? This is a good sign; the southwestern US is not hiding from reality. Now if they could all agree to share the Colorado more realistically. They still haven't gone far enough. The article you linked goes on to state:

no I haven't, I will add it to my Goodreads, thanks mate