Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to Triple U.S. Chip Investment to $40 Billion to Serve Apple and Others
by Cheng Teng-Fang
December 6, 2022
Introduction:
(Nikkei Asia) PHOENIX, U.S. -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is to more than triple its investment in the U.S. to $40 billion and bring the world's most advanced chip production technology to the country by 2026, in a victory for Washington's push to onshore vital parts of the semiconductor supply chain.
TSMC, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, announced on Tuesday it will increase its investment in Arizona, where it is building a $12 billion chip facility, to $40 billion in order to build a second, even more advanced plant there.
The announcement came ahead of an equipment installation ceremony at the first facility on Tuesday, attended by U.S. President Joe Biden and numerous tech industry executives.
The additional facility will begin operation by 2026 and will be the first plant in the U.S. to make 3-nanometer chips, the most advanced currently available, a White House official said. In line with the expansion, TSMC will increase its workforce in Arizona to 4,500, from an initial plan of 1,600, the company said.
Nanometer size refers to the distance between transistors on a chip -- the smaller the number, generally speaking, the more powerful the chip. As the "brains" of electronic devices, such chips are vital for everything from smartphones and autonomous vehicles to supercomputers and AI technologies.
Read more here:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech/ ... le-others
(Axios) Context: TSMC's announcement is just the latest in a string of high-profile investment plans from computer chip companies.
• In early 2022, Intel announced it would spend $20 billion on a new chip production facility near Columbus, Ohio, and has plans to spend a similar amount building out plants in Chandler, Arizona.
• Samsung Electronics has floated the possibility that it could follow a previously announced $17 billion investment in chip production in Austin, Texas, with up to $200 billion on 11 plants in the area, according to Bloomberg.
What they're saying: The U.S. and European focus on boosting chip manufacturing, along with China's simultaneous desire to lead global tech "all point to increased semiconductor capital expenditure in the coming decade," analysts with S&P Global wrote in a recent research report.
The bottom line: In the aggregate, the reshuffling of the global chip market along national lines could be inefficient and costly as countries around the world rush to build, or rebuild, their own local supply of chips.
• But in the U.S., it will make for good politics, offering shovel-ready photo ops for politicians at plants that promise good-paying jobs that, by definition, won't be outsourced to China.
Read more here:
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/07/us-ch ... iden-tsmc
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