November 2, TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, said that if there are certain orders, TSMC can meet the needs of the United States and produce defense chips for the United States. TSMC is currently foundry for most mainstream chip manufacturers and has strong cost competitiveness, but in the past they hardly set up state-of-the-art chip production lines outside the island. If is attracted by US defense chip orders, it will be a major change for TSMC and will also create conditions for Trump to implement the "manufacturing return" return plan on a larger scale.
On November 2, TSMC held a press conference. Liu Deyin, chairman of the company's board of directors, said that the company had received an inquiry letter from the US Department of Defense asking if it was interested in taking on chip orders from the US Department of Defense. Since chips purchased by the US Department of Defense must be produced in the United States for security needs, it will definitely increase the cost of TSMC. However, TSMC believes that although countries have increased their importance to national security, it is only a matter of time before setting up high-level chip factories in the United States in order to compete for the US market. Therefore, Liu Deyin said, "We will actively communicate with Americans and seek opportunities for cooperation", which means that the requirement of setting up factories in the United States is not excluded.
TSMC is currently in the world's leading position in the chip processing field. Many mainstream chip manufacturers around the world, including Apple in the United States, , Huawei in , all design chips, and the specific production work must be handed over to TSMC for completion. The yield rate of TSMC 7nm chip is already much higher than that of Samsung in South Korea, and TSMC is going to be the first to develop the 5nm production process. Since TSMC is also one of the major shareholders of Asmay, the only manufacturer of high-end lithography machine, the only manufacturer of , TSMC's industry status was difficult to shake before the revolutionary changes in chip processing technology.
The United States hopes that TSMC will move its most advanced production line to the United States. In addition to producing more advanced military equipment chips, such as Apple's A-series chips and Qualcomm's 's Snapdragon 's chips, in the future, it will also be very helpful for restoring the high-end manufacturing industry in the United States. It can be said that the US Department of Defense order is just the "bait" for Americans.
TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou repeatedly emphasized that chips are a strategic resource, but I still hope that TSMC can avoid falling into political disputes. TSMC's factory in Nanjing can only produce 14nm chips, and the process is expected to be increased to 10nm in 2020, about two generations behind the most advanced process. Now that TSMC is considering setting up a factory in the United States, will it also consider improving the production process of the factory in Nanjing?
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