Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden.
In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona.
“For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent weeks.
Photo: Reuters
“That’s a big deal — never been done before, never in our history, and lots of people said it couldn’t happen,” Raimondo said of the previously undisclosed production start.
A spokesperson for TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia, which is to report earnings next week, declined to comment on Friday.
TSMC in April last year agreed to expand its planned investment by US$25 billion to US$65 billion and to add a third Arizona fab by 2030.
COURTING FIRMS
The US Congress created a US$52.7 billion semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program in 2022.
All five leading-edge semiconductor firms agreed to locate fabs in the US as part of the program.
Raimondo earlier said that the Department of Commerce had to convince TSMC to boost its US plans.
“It didn’t happen on its own... We had to convince TSMC that they would want to expand,” Raimondo said.
TSMC would produce the world’s most advanced 2-nanometer technology at its second Arizona fab, which is expected to begin production in 2028.
The company also agreed to use its most advanced chip manufacturing technology, called “A16,” in Arizona.
The department has also awarded TSMC up to US$5 billion in low-cost government loans.
Raimondo said she wants the US to make 20 percent of world’s leading-edge logic chips by 2030 — up from none before TSMC began production in Arizona.
In April last year, the department said TSMC expects to begin high-volume production in its first US fab by the first half of this year.
The department last month finalized an award of US$407 million to help fund Amkor Technology’s planned US$2 billion advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Arizona, which is set to be the largest of its kind in the US.
Amkor’s Arizona plant, when fully operational, would package and test millions of chips for autonomous vehicles, 5G/6G and data centers. Apple would be its first and largest customer with the chips produced at a nearby TSMC facility.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
Taiwan pineapples are to be exported to the US for the first time later this year, after the US yesterday announced importation requirements, the Ministry of Agriculture said today. The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service yesterday published a draft of requirements to import Taiwanese pineapples, with a 62-day comment period, the ministry said in a news release. The US maintains strict requirements for imported fresh fruit, it said. The ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency applied to export pineapples to the US in 2020 and has since cooperated with the US to provide all the necessary information and reports, it
RSS