Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is more than tripling its US investment to total US$40 billion as it plans to make 3-nanometer chips in 2026 at a second Arizona fab, adding to the chipmaker’s original plan of building a US$12 billion fab to make 5-nanometer chips in 2024.
The investment would mark the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona’s history and one of the largest foreign direct investments in the history of the US, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement yesterday.
In addition to the more than 10,000 construction workers at the site, TSMC’s two fabs are expected to create an additional 10,000 high-paying high-tech jobs, including 4,500 direct TSMC jobs, it said.
Photo: CNA
When complete, the two fabs would produce more than 600,000 wafers per year, with estimated end-product value of more than US$40 billion, the statement said.
“When complete, TSMC Arizona will be the greenest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the United States producing the most advanced semiconductor process technology in the country, enabling next-generation high-performance and low-power computing products for years to come,” TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said in the statement.
US President Joe Biden was yesterday to visit the Arizona plant. The chipmaker’s investment is a big win for Biden after supply-chain issues disrupted the US economy early in his presidency.
Joining Biden on his visit to promote efforts to boost US technology manufacturing were expected to be Apple Inc chief executive Tim Cook, TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀), Micron Technology chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra and Nvidia founder and chief executive Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), among others, the White House said.
They were to attend a “tool-in” ceremony, which is the symbolic moving of the first equipment onto the shop floor of the new US$12 billion facility.
The plant is scheduled to be operational in 2024.
“Bringing TSMC’s investment to the United States is a masterstroke and a game-changing development for the industry,” Huang said in remarks prepared for yesterday’s event.
US semiconductor production now accounts for just 12 percent of the global total, down from 37 percent two decades ago, a White House report on supply-chain problems last year said.
Taiwan’s dominant position as a maker of chips used in technology from mobile phones and vehicles to fighter jets has sparked concerns of over-reliance on the nation, especially as China ramps up its military pressure.
“The occasion for the president’s travel is to mark a significant milestone that TSMC is reaching in bringing the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the US,” US National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said.
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS