Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) broke ground on its third semiconductor manufacturing fab in Arizona yesterday, US President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, featuring a visit from US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick visited TSMC's semiconductor fabrication facility in Phoenix where the company broke ground on a third fab facility, the US Department of State said in a news release issued later yesterday.
Photo: Lam Yik Fei, Bloomberg
In the statement, Lutnick emphasized the importance of TSMC's investments in the US, saying: "We are at TSMC Arizona to celebrate the return of American manufacturing."
During the visit, TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) welcomed Lutnick and highlighted the progress made in its Arizona operation, the news release said.
To support the needs of the US' leading innovators in smartphones, HPC and artificial intelligence (AI), "we recently broke ground on our third fab, which will introduce more advanced semiconductor capacity to the United States." Wei said.
TSMC's major customers in the US also expressed support for the project.
Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook said that as TSMC Arizona's largest customer, "we're excited for the future of American innovation and the incredible opportunities it will create."
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) also said that AI is revolutionizing every aspect of the technology stack, and Nvidia AI supercomputers are at the foundation.
"We're proud to produce our technology in Arizona, bringing AI infrastructure manufacturing back to America," he said.
AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said that TSMC has been a key partner of her company for many years and AMD's deep collaboration with TSMC's R&D and manufacturing teams has enabled AMD to consistently deliver leadership products.
TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker, said last month that it would invest an additional US$100 billion in the US to build three new chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities and a major R&D team center.
TSMC is already investing US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs.
The first fab in Arizona has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second fab, which is to use the more sophisticated 3nm, 2nm and A16 processes, is currently under construction and is expected to begin production in 2028.
The third is expected to begin production by 2030, using 2nm or more advanced processes, the company said in April last year.
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
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung
Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星科技) is expanding notebook computer production in India after partnering with Indian electronics maker Syrma SGS Technology Ltd late last year, as the Taiwanese company seeks to tap into the local market. MSI also plans to manufacture some of its new gaming PCs powered by Nvidia Corp’s RTX 50 graphics cards in India, while adding more advanced and design-focused PCs and notebooks at Syrma’s plant in Chennai, a source told the Taipei Times yesterday on condition of anonymity. MSI’s deployment in India is driven not only by cost advantages, but also by India’s rapidly expanding consumer market and
RSS