Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has achieved early production yields at its first plant in Arizona that surpass similar factories back home, a significant breakthrough for a US expansion project initially dogged by delays and worker strife.
The share of chips manufactured at TSMC’s facility in Phoenix that are usable is about 4 percentage points higher than comparable facilities in Taiwan, Rick Cassidy, president of TSMC’s US division, told listeners on a webinar on Wednesday, according to a person who participated.
The success rate, or yield, is a critical measure in the semiconductor industry because it determines whether companies would be able to cover the enormous costs of a chip plant.
Photo: Bloomberg
The accomplishment is a sign of progress for Washington’s efforts to revitalize semiconductor manufacturing in the US.
TSMC, the main chip manufacturing partner for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, is in line to win US$6.6 billion in US government grants and US$5 billion in loans — plus 25 percent tax credits — to build three fabs in Arizona. The award, like almost all others from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, is not yet finalized.
The two other chipmakers at the heart of the tech strategy of US President Joe Biden’s administration — Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co — have struggled in the past few months.
Intel, slated to be the biggest beneficiary of the CHIPS Act, is under such severe financial pressure that it is delaying global projects and considering selling assets.
Meanwhile, TSMC has been on a roll.
Its shares reached a record high this month after the chipmaker topped quarterly estimates and raised its target for revenue growth this year.
The latest yield advancement is notable for TSMC, because it has historically kept the most advanced and efficient plants in Taiwan.
Its Arizona site got off to a rocky start, as the company could not find enough skilled staff to install advanced equipment, and workers struggled with safety and management issues.
TSMC reached an accord with construction labor unions late last year.
The chipmaker originally planned to have its first Arizona plant start full production this year, but pushed back the target to next year over the labor issues. It later delayed the start date for its second fab to 2027 or 2028, from an initial target of 2026. That fueled concerns that the company might not be able to make chips in the US as efficiently as in Taiwan.
TSMC could now be keen to expand its US presence further, depending in part on the possibility of more US government backing, Cassidy said, citing early conversations in Washington about a second CHIPS Act.
There is room for at least six fabs at the Phoenix complex.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS