TSMC reports early success at first U.S. chip plant
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSM) first U.S. chip fabrication facility is reportedly ahead of some of the ones back home.
The company’s chip production yields — or the number of functional chips it can produce per manufacturing process — at its Phoenix, Arizona site are about four percentage points higher than those of comparable fabs in Taiwan, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed person who was part of a webinar with TSMC’s U.S. division president Rick Cassidy.
It’s a positive sign for the chipmaker as it shows production could possibly offset the multi-billion dollar cost of its stateside chip hub. TSMC has faced delays at planned facilities in Arizona due to a shortage of skilled workers. The two additional factories at the hub are expected to begin production in 2025 and 2028.
In April, the Biden administration announced that TSMC is eligible for up to $6.6 billion in grants through the federal CHIPS and Science Act, as well as up to $5 billion in loans to support its U.S. hub. Some of the anticipated funding will support building a third facility.
TSMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Quartz.
C.C. Wei, chief executive of TSMC, said on a call with investors last week that its first U.S. fab “entered engineering wafer production in April with 4-nanometer process technology and the result is highly satisfactory, with a very good yield,” Bloomberg reported. This process isamong the most advanced chip manufacturing methods currently in commercial production.
“This is an important operational milestone for TSMC and our customers, demonstrating TSMC’s strong manufacturing capability and execution,” Wei said.
The Taiwanese chipmaker has reportedly begun manufacturing chips for Apple, its first customer at the Arizona fab, independent journalist Tim Culpan reported in September, citing unnamed sources. The A16 chips are being produced “in small, but significant, numbers,” Culpan said.
Production volume of the A16, which was launched in the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, “will ramp up considerably” after the second stage of TSMC’s Phase 1 fab is finished, Taiwan-based Culpan said. That would put TSMC’s U.S. site on track to reach its target in the first half of next year, he said.
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