There has never been any other first-tool-in ceremony in any company that has received the attention that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC) is getting for its Arizona facility. The guest list reflects the fact that having TSMC's advanced semiconductor technology produced in America, for America, is seen as key to ensuring the technology leadership of the US and Apple.
US president Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will grace the event, Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook will also participate in person, according to Bloomberg. Taiwan National Development Council minister Kung Ming-hsin will represent the Taiwan government in the ceremony.
The Arizona fab, which is scheduled to start mass production of 5nm chips in 2024, will also produce 4nm chips in the meantime for Apple. The new plan will be announced by Biden and Raimondo in the ceremony, according to people quoted by Bloomberg.
The report also said that Apple will use one-third of the output from the Arizona fab, and TSMC's production is likely to exceed the 20,000 wafers per month it originally planned for the US$12 billion Arizona facility.
TSMC founder Morris Chang has confirmed recently that the company is planning to produce 3nm chips in a new fab to be built adjacent to the site celebrating first-tool-in, but the plans are not finalized yet.
Although news about TSMC relocating 300 semiconductor engineers and their families to Arizona raised some eyebrows in Taiwan and sparked concerns over TSMC's unconditional cooperation at the request of the US without taking cost competitiveness into consideration, industry experts said the geopolitical pressure imposed by the US on Taiwan government and the company itself is paramount.
As the US contributes to more than 60% of TSMC's revenues and with heavyweight investors including Berkshire Hathaway, Bridgewater Associates, and Tiger Global Management becoming shareholders of its American Deposit Receipt (ADR), it is a rational business move to produce chips in America at the request of American customers as long as they pay up, and as long as the 50% extra costs manufacturing chips in the US (a fact disclosed by Morris Chang) does not hurt the interests of the shareholders in Taiwan and overseas.
