TSMC to begin pilot program at its Arizona

[FP91G]

TSMC to begin pilot program at its Arizona, USA fab plant for mass production by end of 2024

TSMC is "sprinting" to conduct a trial production of its first production line in mid-April at its new Arizona fabrication plant in the United States, where if these tests go well, mass production is expected at the Arizona plant by the end of the year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) said yesterday that its Arizona wafer fab plant is making good progress, as planned. The company is expected to hold a press conference on April 18 to provide more details on the exact progress of the Arizona plant.

Read more: TSMC's second fab site in Arizona, USA celebrates its 'topping out' milestone
The new US-based TSMC fab plant will begin mass-producing new 4nm process nodes in the first half of 2025 when the Arizona plant will be in full operation. The new Arizona lab will produce the same quality wafers as its bleeding-edge Taiwan-based facilities.


https://www.tweaktown.com/news/97293/tsmc-to-begin-pilot-program-at-its-arizona-usa-fab-plant-for-mass-production-by-end-of-2024/index.html

[mindrust]

That’s cool. Maybe one day they’ll move the whole factory to the US. They won’t survive for very long otherwise. Sooner or later China will make a move against Taiwan and it won’t be pretty for TSMC when that day comes. It won’t be pretty for anyone but TSMC will get affected more than anybody else.

I wonder if moving their manufacturing to the US will affect their costs though. They will probably have to raise their prices because of that. It is still better than getting invaded by China I guess.

[FP91G]

That’s cool. Maybe one day they’ll move the whole factory to the US. They won’t survive for very long otherwise. Sooner or later China will make a move against Taiwan and it won’t be pretty for TSMC when that day comes. It won’t be pretty for anyone but TSMC will get affected more than anybody else.

I wonder if moving their manufacturing to the US will affect their costs though. They will probably have to raise their prices because of that. It is still better than getting invaded by China I guess.

The US has a much higher standard of living and similar salaries for engineers, so the cost of production will be higher if the government does not provide good benefits for this business. But if China starts a war in Taiwan, then the plant will have more orders than it can fulfill and this will be a very profitable business.

[safar1980]

TSMC Facilities to Resume
Production Overnight After Quake
Chipmakers move some staff off of unspecified operation areas
The earthquake rocked Taiwan and triggered tsunami warnings
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it expects to resume production overnight at facilities that were earlier interrupted after the biggest earthquake in 25 years struck its home island.

TSMC, the main contract chipmaker to Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., moved staff out of certain areas after a temblor measuring 7.4 in magnitude off the east coast on Wednesday morning.

[FP91G]

NVIDIA and AMD have reserved all of TSMC's CoWOS and SoIC advanced packaging for 2024 and 2025
NVIDIA and AMD have purchased all of TSMC's advanced packaging production capacity including CoWoS and SoIC for 2024 and 2025: they're 'fully booked'.
AMD and NVIDIA are both pumping out new generations of AI hardware, with the two GPU giants eating all of TSMC's advanced packaging capacity for not just 2024, but also 2025.
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/98055/nvidia-and-amd-have-reserved-all-of-tsmcs-cowos-soic-advanced-packaging-for-2024-2025/index.html

[safar1980]

TSMC says construction of first European plant on track to start in fourth quarter
Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab plans to start construction of its first European facility in the fourth quarter of 2024, it said on Tuesday.
At a conference in the Netherlands, TSMC's European chief Paul de Bot said the facility in the German city of Dresden, known as European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (ESMC), was on track for construction to begin this year with production in 2027.
Last August TSMC announced plans for the $11 billion factory in Germany, with Infineon (IFXGn.DE), opens new tab , NXP(NXPI.O), opens new tab, and Robert Bosch each taking a 10% stake.

[OgNasty]

That’s cool. Maybe one day they’ll move the whole factory to the US. They won’t survive for very long otherwise. Sooner or later China will make a move against Taiwan and it won’t be pretty for TSMC when that day comes. It won’t be pretty for anyone but TSMC will get affected more than anybody else.

I wonder if moving their manufacturing to the US will affect their costs though. They will probably have to raise their prices because of that. It is still better than getting invaded by China I guess.

The US has a much higher standard of living and similar salaries for engineers, so the cost of production will be higher if the government does not provide good benefits for this business. But if China starts a war in Taiwan, then the plant will have more orders than it can fulfill and this will be a very profitable business.

I suspect they won't have any problems finding orders for this plant.  It's for sure going to be extremely profitable no matter what happens.  It's also in a pretty new area where the cost of living is extremely cheap and everything is brand new.  They have access to cheap, clean nuclear energy, as much sunlight as a solar panel can want, plenty of room for expansion, and it's located right next to a major interstate.  There's a reason why Amazon, Walmart, UPS, and others have giant properties out here.  I think this was a great move by TSMC.  Maybe I'll go see if they need any Financial Analysts. 

[FP91G]

TSMC will build 7 new plants this year, to boost its global competitiveness
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will build 7 new plants this year to increase its global competitiveness, ready for the future of chips.
The 7 new plants will include 3 new wafer plants, 2 new packaging factories in Taiwan, and two new wafer plants overseas. These new facilities are being built, or about to be built, to meet the fast-growing global demand for high-performance computing devices and smartphones, says Huang Yuan-kuo, head of the FAB18 plant in Tainan, at the TSMC 2024 Taiwan Technology Symposium.


https://www.tweaktown.com/news/98509/tsmc-will-build-7-new-plants-this-year-to-boost-its-global-competitiveness/index.html

[safar1980]

TSMC Outlines Path  to EUV Success: More Tools, More Wafers, & Best Pellicles In Industry
Although TSMC can't claim to be the first fab to use extreme UV (EUV) lithography – that title goes to Samsung – they do get to claim to be the largest. As a result, the company has developed significant experience with EUV over the years, allowing TSMC to refine how they use EUV tooling to both improve productivity/uptime, and to cut down on the costs of using the ultra-fine tools. As part of the company's European Technology Symposium this week, they went into a bit more detail on their EUV usage history, and their progress on further integrating EUV into future process nodes.

When TSMC started making chips using EUV lithography in 2019 on its N7+ process (for Huawei's HiSilicon), it held 42% of the world's installed base of EUV tools, and even as ASML ramped up shipments of EUV scanners in 2020, TSMC's share of EUV installations actually increased to 50%. And jumping ahead to 2024, where the number of EUV litho systems at TSMC has increased by 10-fold from 2019, TSMC is now 56% of the global EUV installed base, despite Samsung and Intel ramping up their own EUV production. Suffice it to say, TSMC made a decision to go in hard on EUV early on, and as a result they still have the lion's share of EUV scanners today.

[tuaris]

No doubt that we need these fabs to come to the US, but I can not help but wonder how much special treatment TSMC is getting in the process.

[safar1980]

TSMC's first-quarter revenue growth beats market expectations on the back of artificial intelligence boom

Taiwanese chip maker TSMC reported a 16.5 percent rise in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, beating market expectations and hitting the upper end of the company's own forecasts as its sales surge on demand for artificial intelligence applications.

The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a surge in artificial intelligence that has helped it weather a pandemic-driven drop in demand and pushed TSMC shares to a record high, Reuters reported.

Revenue in the first three months of this year totaled $18.54 billion, up from $16.72 billion in the same period last year.

[FP91G]

Due to cost pressures from overseas expansion and increasing electricity prices, TSMC plans to raise prices for its advanced processes to manage these challenges amidst strong demand, market tracker TrendForce reports. Production at 3nm-class nodes could increase by 5% by next year, according to China Times. While we are quoting two reports, note that both are unofficial and should be treated accordingly.

Capacity utilization of TSMC's advanced N5/N4 (5nm-class and 4nm-class) and N3 (3nm-class) process technologies is 'full,' according to TrendForce. Indeed, these production nodes are used to make virtually all the leading processors for AI, HPC, personal computers, and smartphone applications that all sell at a premium like hotcakes. The contract chipmaker's capacity utilization is expected to exceed 100% in the second half of the year, with strong demand projected to continue into 2025, TrendForce expects.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/tsmc-n3-production-and-packaging-prices-to-increase-by-up-to-20-say-reports

[safar1980]

Intel Reportedly Outsources All Sub-3nm Process Production to TSMC
Intel has outsourced the production of its Lunar Lake processors to TSMC. According to a report from Commercial Times, due to recent setbacks in Intel’s wafer foundry business, the company has decided to outsource all sub-3nm process manufacturing to TSMC.

The company is also said to be implementing a global 15% workforce reduction plan in an effort to reverse its decline. However, industry sources also reveal that the layoffs are primarily targeting the foundry business, while Intel’s Taiwan branch remains unaffected to maintain production partnerships with local chip manufacturers.

Intel remains committed to its wafer foundry business, as it reportedly released the 18A process design kit (PDK) to IC manufacturers in July.

[FP91G]

China’s In-House Chips Are Said To Be Just Three Years Behind TSMC, US Curbs Show Little Impact
China's domestic chips have evolved rapidly, and a new analysis shows that the country is only three years behind TSMC in achieving semiconductor equivalence.

China's Semiconductor Markets Have Evolved Massively After US Sanctions, Likely To Achieve Global Competitiveness Soon
It won't be wrong to admit that after the US sanctions, the growth experienced by Chinese semiconductor firms was at a new level, especially since the "Made in China" narrative took a new turn, involving every giant firm to ensure that they achieve self-production lines. A great example of this is Huawei. Even after the US made every attempt to hinder China's influence over the global markets, the nation kept coming back, and it looks like the domestic semiconductor markets have now evolved to the extent that they are "almost" on par with global competitors.
https://wccftech.com/chinas-in-house-chips-three-years-behind-tsmc-us-curbs-show-little-impact/

[FP91G]

AMD to reportedly become TSMC's next major customer in Arizona — HPC AI chips could start US production in 2025


AMD is set to produce high-performance chips at TSMC’s new Arizona fab, making it the second high-profile client for the fab after Apple. Independent journalist Tim Culpan reports that sources close to the matter confirmed the agreement today, though TSMC declined to comment.

TSMC Fab 21, located near Phoenix, Arizona, has begun trial production on its 5nm node, a process node family that includes the N4/N4P/N4X and N5/N5P/N5X processes. While its phase 1 production has not fully commenced, the Apple A16 Bionic chip is currently in production at Fab 21 using the N4P process. The A16 Bionic has been around since mid-2022 and is an excellent manufacturing test for the young fab, which reports "small, but significant" numbers of the chips currently being produced for various Apple products. Fab 21's current yields were described as similar to TSMC's Taiwan fabs by Bloomberg last month.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/amd-to-reportedly-become-tsmcs-next-major-customer-in-arizona-hpc-ai-chips-could-start-us-production-in-2025