TSMC has confirmed that it plans to build and maintain a new generation semiconductor factory in the United States. A move that has been facilitated by the United States federal government. And with the aid from the State of Arizona, TSMC confirmed that the factory will be based in the state best known for Grand Canyon. Also Read - Huawei Kirin 1000 based on 5nm TSMC process coming this year; Kirin 1100 will follow next year
The report noted that it would be a state-of-the-art semiconductor factory, and this means that TSMC will use this facility to produce 5nm chips in the process. The list of clients that TSMC will have under this process confirms, by itself, its importance. Also Read - Intel, TSMC and Samsung could soon build chipset production factories in the USA: WSJ
TSMC list of clients
Intel will produce its Xe GPUs under TSMC’s 5nm process, and NVIDIA will also do the same with its Hopper GPUs and AMD with the Radeon RDNA 3 and Zen 4 processors. Other big companies like Apple and Qualcomm will also invest in the TSMC 5nm process for the production of their smartphone chipsets. Also Read - Apple A14 chipset for 2020 iPhone to be built on 5nm process by TSMC: Report
The factory in Arizona will have a production capacity of 20,000 products per month. It is likely to generate a total of 1,600 direct jobs for highly qualified professionals. As well as thousands of other indirect jobs related to the ecosystem of semiconductors.
If everything goes according to plan, the construction of this new factory will begin in 2021 and will complete by the end of 2023. This means that the production of the first products will start sometime in 2024, which is a long-term investment. It is likely that the said plant could also face a transition to the 3nm chipset production when necessary.
In total, TSMC will also invest $12 billion from 2021 to 2029 in this project. The Taiwanese giant has not specified what kind of support it has received from the United States federal government. And the Arizona state government to carry out this project. However, it may still have closed significant financial aid and fiscal advantages.