TSMC Will Build Third Arizona Fab After Winning $6.6B in CHIPS Funding
Ashley Belanger, reporting for Ars Technica:
The US Department of Commerce has proposed another round
of CHIPS Act funding up to $6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which President Joe Biden
hopes will “support the construction of leading-edge
semiconductor manufacturing facilities right here in the United
States.”
With this award — which includes additional funding up to $5
billion in low-cost government loans — TSMC has agreed to
increase funding in Arizona fabrication plants to $65 billion.
That’s the largest foreign direct investment in a new project in
US history, the Commerce Department said, and it will fuel
construction of TSMC’s third Arizona fab. […]
But analysts told the Financial Times that the US is still
moving too slowly to become a global chip leader. One engineer
told FT that by 2028, “Nvidia and other AI chip vendors are likely
to have migrated to 2nm” process technology, ahead of the TSMC
Arizona fabs reaching that goal. In January, TSMC Chairman Mark
Liu told investors that Taiwan-based fabs “will start 2nm mass
production next year” and that the company has “plans to build
‘multiple’ more fabs operating on that technology” in Taiwan, FT
reported.
The goal should be to jump ahead of Taiwan, not merely catch up. I suspect that’s just not remotely feasible, though. Still though, any domestic chip fabrication is better than no domestic chip fabrication.
★
Ashley Belanger, reporting for Ars Technica:
The US Department of Commerce has proposed another round
of CHIPS Act funding up to $6.6 billion for Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which President Joe Biden
hopes will “support the construction of leading-edge
semiconductor manufacturing facilities right here in the United
States.”
With this award — which includes additional funding up to $5
billion in low-cost government loans — TSMC has agreed to
increase funding in Arizona fabrication plants to $65 billion.
That’s the largest foreign direct investment in a new project in
US history, the Commerce Department said, and it will fuel
construction of TSMC’s third Arizona fab. […]
But analysts told the Financial Times that the US is still
moving too slowly to become a global chip leader. One engineer
told FT that by 2028, “Nvidia and other AI chip vendors are likely
to have migrated to 2nm” process technology, ahead of the TSMC
Arizona fabs reaching that goal. In January, TSMC Chairman Mark
Liu told investors that Taiwan-based fabs “will start 2nm mass
production next year” and that the company has “plans to build
‘multiple’ more fabs operating on that technology” in Taiwan, FT
reported.
The goal should be to jump ahead of Taiwan, not merely catch up. I suspect that’s just not remotely feasible, though. Still though, any domestic chip fabrication is better than no domestic chip fabrication.