Everyone knows that TSMC is the world's most powerful chip foundry. TSMC's success is inseparable from the business planning of its founder Zhang Zhongmou , but it is also inseparable from the United States' support for TSMC!
Apple , Qualcomm , AMD, Nvidia and other companies are all customers of TSMC. Huawei was also a major customer of TSMC. It can be said that regardless of the fact that TSMC is just a chip foundry, without chip foundries like TSMC, the global semiconductor industry will fall into recession!
To a certain extent, whoever owns TSMC, or whoever TSMC gives priority to OEM, then this company can take the competitive initiative in the field of semiconductor !
media broke the news that TSMC’s first wafer fab in Arizona will start producing the 4nm process (an enhanced version of the 5nm process) in 2024. Its second wafer plant in Arizona will begin production on the 3nm process in 2026. Both
factories are set to be located in the United States. Apple, Nvidia, and AMD have all announced that they will become the first customers of TSMC's new factory. Qualcomm has also expressed its willingness to hand over chip orders to new factories for production. After the completion of the two phases of TSMC's project, the total annual output will exceed 600,000 wafers, which means that the United States will be self-sufficient in its domestic chip !
Zhang Zhongmou said that building a semiconductor factory in the United States was a dream he had when he founded TSMC 25 years ago. However, the 8-inch wafer factory WaferTech built by TSMC in Washington State in the late 1990s failed and even became "a nightmare." Now, this dream has been realized by Liu Deyin who took over as the chairman of TSMC in 2018.
"Globalization is almost dead, and free trade is almost dead." Zhang Zhongmou said at the ceremony that TSMC has learned from early experience and is now more prepared. He also confirmed that nearly 600 engineers employed at the Arizona plant have been sent to Taiwan, China, for training.
Zhang Zhongmou once said that TSMC’s attempt to build a factory in the United States later even became a nightmare. How come the nightmare suddenly turned into a dream?
The cost of chips produced by TSMC in Taiwan is about US$6,500, while the cost of production in the United States is about US$11,000. In other words, the U.S. factory not only consumes a lot of money from TSMC, but it will also be a factory with very low profit margins in the future.
So the question is, since TSMC’s production costs in the United States are much higher than those in Taiwan, why does Chang insist on letting TSMC build factories in the United States? We might as well analyze it briefly!
In Mr. Chun's view, Zhang Zhongmou actually felt a little helpless when facing the olive branch offered by the United States! The United States allowed TSMC to build a factory in the United States. It not only provided financial support, but also a series of policy support. This time, almost all the big guys in the American technology circle were present at the construction site of TSMC's factory in the United States. It can be said that it gave Zhang Zhongmou a lot of face!
Mr. Chun mentioned above that the reason why TSMC has become the king of the global chip industry is inseparable from the strong support of the United States in the early days. To this day, American capital is still an important shareholder of TSMC.
Let’s take a look again. Qualcomm, Apple, Nvidia, Broadcom, , etc. in the United States are all customers of TSMC. It can be said that most of TSMC’s customers are basically in the United States. TSMC does not dare to offend these big customers, so it has no choice but to build factories in the United States shamelessly.
It is foreseeable that TSMC will build a factory in the United States, which will further enhance the United States' advantages in the semiconductor industry. It also reminds us once again not to believe in the absurd statement that "technology has no borders."
