Reuters: TSMC considers building 3nm chip factory in the United States

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TSMC may want to build a 3nm chip semiconductor factory in Arizona. This is reported by anonymous sources from the Reuters news agency. This plant would complement TSMC’s current expansion plans within the United States.

The proposed 3nm plant would cost $23 to 25 billion, sources familiar with TSMC’s plans told Reuters. That’s more than double the 5nm plant already being built in Arizona; the construction of that factory would cost 10 to 12 billion dollars.

Reuters reported earlier this month that TSMC would have plans to further expand its production capacity in Arizona, on top of this 5nm plant. The chip manufacturer would like to build five more chip factories on a TSMC campus in the American state.

The manufacturer is now said to be discussing internally whether the next plant in the US should be a more advanced facility that can make chips on TSMC’s 3nm node, whose small-scale risk production is already starting this year in Taiwan. TSMC employees are also said to have outlined plans to make 2nm chips and smaller in the US as the Arizona campus expands over the next 10 to 15 years, a source told Reuters.

Earlier this month, a lobby group called the Semiconductors in America Coalition called on the US government to put money into US chip manufacturing capacity. The lobby group is asking President Biden’s administration for $50 billion in investment. In addition to major tech companies such as Apple, AMD, Qualcomm and Nvidia, TSMC has also signed this call. So it comes as no surprise that TSMC appears to be planning to expand its manufacturing capacity in the US.

It seems plausible that this call will be accepted; Reuters reported on Friday that four US senators were about to introduce a $52 billion financing plan for the semiconductor industry. The US president has been calling for investment in the chip sector for some time now. Biden, for example, already mentioned a possible financing plan for the American chip sector in March, also writes the Wall Street Journal.

A cleanroom in a fab of TSMC. Source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd

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