Friday, 21 February 2025
Home Topics Business TSMC begins producing 4-nanometer chips in Arizona, Raimondo says
BusinessElectric Vehicles (EVs)ManufacturingNewsSemiconductor

TSMC begins producing 4-nanometer chips in Arizona, Raimondo says

33
The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, January 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo
The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, January 19, 2021. — REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co has begun producing advanced four-nanometer chips for U.S. customers in Arizona, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters, a milestone in the Biden administration’s semiconductor efforts.

In November, Commerce finalized a $6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s U.S. unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona.

“For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge four-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo told Reuters in an interview saying it had begun in recent weeks.

“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 reports earnings next week, declined to comment Friday.

In April, TSMC agreed to expand its planned investment by $25 billion to $65 billion and to add a third Arizona fab by 2030.

Congress created a $52.7 billion semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program in 2022. Commerce convinced all five leading edge semiconductor firms to locate fabs in the United States as part of the program.

Raimondo told Reuters earlier that Commerce had to convince TSMC to boost its U.S. plans.

“It didn’t happen on its own… We had to convince TSMC that they would want to expand,” Raimondo said.

TSMC will produce the world’s most advanced two-nanometer technology at its second Arizona fab expected to begin production in 2028. TSMC also agreed to use its most advanced chip manufacturing technology called “A16” in Arizona.

The TSMC award from Commerce also includes up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans.

Raimondo wants the United States to make 20% of world’s leading-edge logic chips by 2030 — up from the 0% before TSMC began production in Arizona.

In April, Commerce said TSMC expects to begin high-volume production in its first U.S. fab by the first half of 2025.

Last month, Commerce finalized an award of $407 million to help fund Amkor Technology’s planned $2 billion advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Arizona, which is set to be the largest of its kind in the U.S.

Amkor’s Arizona plant when fully operational will package and test millions of chips for autonomous vehicles, 5G/6G and data centers. Apple will be its first and largest customer with the chips produced at a nearby TSMC facility.

(Reporting by David Shepardson;Editing by Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)

Related Articles

First Minister John Swinney was shown a hydrogen gas cooker during the visit (Jane Barlow/PA)
ClimateHydrogen

Swinney: Hydrogen-powered home is ‘exciting’ development in climate change fight

John Swinney says the opening of the first hydrogen-powered homes at a...

FILE PHOTO: People walk past an installation depicting barrel of oil with the logo of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) during the COP29 United Nations climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan November 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
BusinessOilPoliticsTrade

OPEC+ likely to stick to oil output hike plan, sources say

By Maha El Dahan, Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya Astakhova LONDON (Reuters) -OPEC+...

FILE - People walk amid an oil spill in the Niger Delta in village of Ogboinbiri, Nigeria, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
BusinessEconomyOilPolitics

Nigeria moves to restart oil production in vulnerable region after Shell sells much of its business

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian government is in talks with local...

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at manufacturer FALK Production in Walker, Michigan, U.S. September 27, 2024.  REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
BusinessEconomyIndustryInfrastructurePoliticsTrade

US metal buyers likely to turn to Mideast, Chile as tariffs bite

By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE (Reuters) -U.S. companies will look to the Middle...

Login into your Account

Please login to like, dislike or bookmark this article.