Skye Jacobs

The big picture: The US is committed to establishing semiconductor manufacturing within its borders, and perhaps no effort is more crucial to this goal than TSMC's three-fab facility in Arizona. The government is pouring billions into the development, alongside TSMC's $65 billion investment.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has reached a significant milestone in its expansion into the US. Recent trial production at the company's new Arizona facility has yielded results comparable to those of its established plants in Taiwan, according to Bloomberg, which cited a person familiar with the company who requested anonymity. This development is a positive sign for the chipmaker's ambitious US project, which has faced delays and doubts about whether it could match the production efficiency of its Taiwanese operations.

The Arizona plant began engineering wafer production in April using advanced 4-nanometer process technology. With production yields now on par with its facilities in Tainan, Taiwan, TSMC should be able to maintain its targeted gross margin rates of 53 percent or higher.

TSMC has much at stake with its US operations. The company plans to invest $65 billion in three plants in Arizona, making it the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona history and the largest foreign direct investment in a greenfield project in US history.

Concurrently, the US government is providing substantial support through grants and loans. TSMC is set to receive up to $6.6 billion in grants and $5 billion in loans for its Arizona project.

TSMC's Arizona facility is on track to begin production at its first fab in the first half of 2025. The second fab, set to start production in 2028, will produce chips using 2nm process technology with next-generation nanosheet transistors, in addition to 3nm technology. The third fab will focus on 2nm or more advanced processes, with production expected to commence by the end of the decade.

The initial plan had been for the first fab to achieve full production this year, but the timeline was delayed due to several workforce challenges. These included difficulties in finding skilled workers locally, cultural differences between TSMC's Taiwanese management and American employees, and a shortage of skilled construction workers that slowed the building process. This delay raised concerns about TSMC's ability to maintain efficiency with its US operations compared to its facilities in Taiwan.

Recent success in trial production has alleviated some of these concerns. TSMC has confirmed that the Arizona project is progressing as planned, although the company has not commented specifically on yield rates.

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TSMC's $65 billion Arizona facility can now match Taiwan production yields according to early trials

holydiver

Good good! Meanwhile, dummies in Europe are debating on how to get rid of all power plants.

Win7user

Fantastic! It's a good start...

Porkous · 2024-09-08T08:09:31-0400

Is where you want your fabs to be.
Although they have shortage of construction workers. Weird thing. America And all it's skyscrapers?

I like it because anyway all your important components are designed in USA. Now they are in the chips there, too.

Tekpot

The U.S was mocking the USSR/other communist countries for Nationalizing industries, and the irony they're doing the same now.

bandit8623

People cheer, but lets see how much pollution they are allowed to dump into our water system. or will they catch it 10 years later? cough cough 3m

bclaymiles

Tekpot said:
The U.S was mocking the USSR/other communist countries for Nationalizing industries, and the irony they're doing the same now.

Grants that amount to about 10% of what TSMC is investing don't somehow make TSMC a nationalized industry; the government doesn't own or control it.

bclaymiles

bandit8623 said:
People cheer, but lets see how much pollution they are allowed to dump into our water system. or will they catch it 10 years later? cough cough 3m

Semiconductors have been produced in the US for sixty years; there were pollution issues long ago, but there are no longer (notwithstanding existing EPA SuperFund sites still being cleaned up from way back then). Companies in the US are required to follow EPA rules, and can't even begin building a facility unless all potential pollution issues have been addressed and accounted for. TSMC's fabs are in the middle of barren desert; even if there were pollution issues, they are far removed from any meaningful impact to the population. There's not a chance at all that they'll emit pollution into the surrounding area; they'll be monitored contuously for that.

bandit8623

bclaymiles said:
Semiconductors have been produced in the US for sixty years; there were pollution issues long ago, but there are no longer (notwithstanding existing EPA SuperFund sites still being cleaned up from way back then). Companies in the US are required to follow EPA rules, and can't even begin building a facility unless all potential pollution issues have been addressed and accounted for. TSMC's fabs are in the middle of barren desert; even if there were pollution issues, they are far removed from any meaningful impact to the population. There's not a chance at all that they'll emit pollution into the surrounding area; they'll be monitored contuously for that.

part of the problem is the water use they need. they are in a dry area and need a **** ton of water. hmm where do they get that from?

bclaymiles

bandit8623 said:
part of the problem is the water use they need. they are in a dry area and need a **** ton of water. hmm where do they get that from?

The Salt river and Verde river, neither of which are near the facility. They'll treat whatever effluent they generate, likely recycling the vast majority of it. Again, the entire construction process is under a microscope, all of that has been planned and approved, and any effluent will be continuously monitored. Both the TMSC fab and the Intel fab nearby have made commitments to reclaim a large proportion of the water they use, and treating it is 'easy' in Arizona, because there's tons of solar energy to power the reclamation and treatment; TSMC has an enormous solar array onsite.

toooooot

Tekpot said:
The U.S was mocking the USSR/other communist countries for Nationalizing industries, and the irony they're doing the same now.

I think they would not be if it was not for one specific unfriendly communist country threatening to become a first world power.

Subset6 · 2024-09-08T19:12:38-0400

With 85% Taiwanese workers.. yup. progress.. gold star America.. you did it! Make no mistake this a box checked for a bill passed that cost tax payers billions. Chinese aggression in the region I'm sure has nothing to do with it, and the unsure promise that the US would actually intervene in such an attack. The world need's safe places for lithography after all.. an all to familiar tale of profit over people.

gamerk2

Subset6 said:
With 85% Taiwanese workers.. yup. progress.. gold star America.. you did it! Make no mistake this a box checked for a bill passed that cost tax payers billions. Chinese aggression in the region I'm sure has nothing to do with it, and the unsure promise that the US would actually intervene in such an attack. The world need's safe places for lithography after all.. an all to familiar tale of profit over people.

To be fair, that's what happens when you put major tech hubs in the middle of the desert where there aren't sufficient population to support it.

Cracken

Subset6 said:
With 85% Taiwanese workers.. yup. progress.. gold star America.. you did it! Make no mistake this a box checked for a bill passed that cost tax payers billions. Chinese aggression in the region I'm sure has nothing to do with it, and the unsure promise that the US would actually intervene in such an attack. The world need's safe places for lithography after all.. an all to familiar tale of profit over people.

Naturally most are Taiwanese workers, what else would they be. The workforce needed for the fabs simply cannot be found in the U.S - they are in short supply of workers with the right expertise.
The shift in chip manufacturing is happening, but yet TSMC expands more in Taiwan than they do in the west. The process will take decades and it will require more Taiwanese people willing to move to the west.

ferrellsl

bandit8623 said:
part of the problem is the water use they need. they are in a dry area and need a **** ton of water. hmm where do they get that from?

This has been explained over and over again. The Phoenix basin is surrounded by high peaks that generate a lot of snow melt. Also, the Salt River flows right into Phoenix and it never dries up. There are also enormous reservoirs that also supply Phoenix with water from Roosevelt Lake, Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and Saguaro Lake. Phoenix is not a desert wasteland as you seem to believe. I've lived in the Mesa/Phoenix area for 10 years now so I know firsthand.

ferrellsl

gamerk2 said:
To be fair, that's what happens when you put major tech hubs in the middle of the desert where there aren't sufficient population to support it.

Seriously? There are over 2 million residents in the Phoenix metro area and crap ton of high tech industries in the valley including Apple, Intel, Honeywell, etc.

gamerk2

ferrellsl said:
Seriously? There are over 2 million residents in the Phoenix metro area and crap ton of high tech industries in the valley including Apple, Intel, Honeywell, etc.

I'm from NY; we have different definitions of a "big" city.

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The big picture: The US is committed to establishing semiconductor manufacturing within its borders, and perhaps no effort is more crucial to this goal than TSMC's three-fab facility in Arizona. The government is pouring billions into the development, alongside TSMC's $65 billion investment.

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