Apple Inc is to be the biggest customer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new Arizona factories, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote on Twitter yesterday.
“Apple silicon unlocks a new level of performance for our users. And soon, many of these chips can be stamped ‘Made in America.’ The opening of TSMC’s plant in Arizona marks a new era of advanced manufacturing in the US — and we are proud to become the site’s largest customer,” he wrote.
Cook’s tweet came as TSMC held a “tool-in” ceremony for its US$12 billion wafer fab in Arizona on Tuesday, which marked the beginning of equipment installation at the facility near Phoenix. The fab is expected to start production in 2024, using the chipmaker’s advanced 4-nanometer process.
Photo: Bloomberg
Prior to the ceremony, TSMC announced it would increase its investment in Arizona to US$40 billion and build a second fab that would use the more advanced 3-nanometer process, with production scheduled to start in 2026.
Apple is the biggest customer of TSMC, accounting for about 26 percent of the chipmaker’s revenue last year. TSMC is the sole supplier of chips used in iPhones.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) and Qualcomm Inc are also to source chips from the new Arizona factories.
Photo: Bloomberg
AMD CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said TSMC’s presence in Arizona is “extremely” critical to the global semiconductor industry, as well as AMD’s expanded ecosystem of partners and clients.
“TSMC enables us to focus on what we do best: designing innovative chips that change the world,” Su said at the ceremony. “AMD expects to be a significant user of the TSMC Arizona fabs and we look forward to building our highest performance chips in the United States.”
Qualcomm said that TSMC bringing its advanced technologies to the country would benefit the US semiconductor industry and the overall economy.
Photo: CNA
“As a longtime customer of TSMC, we are pleased to start leveraging the Arizona facility to manufacture our leading-edge products when production begins in 2024,” Qualcomm senior vice president and chief supply chain and operations officer Roawen Chen (陳若文) said.
TSMC’s most advanced processes are usually first adopted by suppliers of smartphone chips and high-performance computing chips.
Intel Corp CEO Pat Gelsinger, who visited Taiwan yesterday, wrote on Twitter that “Arizona is a great place to make semiconductors, with excellent engineering talent. Intel has led the building of the local ecosystem and talent base since we started manufacturing here in 1980.”
“As Intel and TSMC and others continue to invest here, Arizonans are a critical part of the future of the industry,” he wrote.
Gelsinger visited Taiwanese partners and attended Intel’s first Sustainability Taiwan Day in Taipei, which featured speeches, discussions and other high-tech related activities.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
PULLING AHEAD: TSMC aims to start production at the Taichung fab in 2028 using its most advanced technology, while 1.6nm chips would be made in Kaohsiung next year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to start building a new 1.4-nanometer fab next quarter with an anticipated production value of up to NT$500 billion (US$16.49 billion), the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is working at full steam to push forward the construction of its new factories at home, rather than taking a slower approach as some media speculated, bureau Director-General Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. “Everything is on schedule. TSMC plans to start construction in the fourth quarter. It is planning a detailed construction schedule and arranging contractors to build the fab,” Hsu
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
Taiwan has imposed restrictions on the export of chips to South Africa over national security concerns, taking the unusual step of using its dominance of chip markets to pressure a country that is closely allied with China. Taiwan requires preapproval for the bulk of chips sold to the African nation, the International Trade Administration said in a statement. The decision emerged after Pretoria tried to downgrade Taipei’s representative office and force its move to Johannesburg from Pretoria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said. The move reflects Taiwan’s economic clout and a growing frustration with getting sidelined by Beijing in the diplomatic community. Taiwan