作者 | ZeR0
Edit | Desert Shadow
Xinxi reported on April 9 that on April 8, Beijing time, TSMC and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the signing of a non-binding preliminary agreement (PMT), TSMC will receive up to $6.6 billion in direct funding and up to $5 billion in loans under the U.S. "Chips and Science Act" to build a third wafer foundry in Phoenix to produce 2nm or more advanced chips by 2030.
The construction of the third chip factory will increase TSMC's total investment in Arizona to $65 billion, facilitating the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona's history. AMD Chairman and CEO Lisa Su, Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang, and Apple CEO Tim Cook all congratulated TSMC on its historic investment.
The White House website also released a special "Statement by US President Biden on the Preliminary Agreement with TSMC on the Chips and Science Act", which shows that the matter is important.
▲U.S. President Joe Biden visited TSMC's Arizona factory in December 2022
TSMC's first fab in Arizona, Fab 21, Phase 1, will begin production in the first half of 2025 to produce 4nm FinFET technology. (The launching ceremony of TSMC's U.S. factory Fab21 was held in December 2022)
The second fab, Fab 21, Phase 2, will produce the world's most advanced 2nm process technology, with next-generation nanosheet transistor technology in addition to the previously announced 3nm technology, with production starting in 2028.
The third fab will use 2nm or more to produce chips and will start production by 2030.
At full capacity, TSMC's three fabs in Arizona will produce tens of millions of top-of-the-line chips to power products such as 5G/6G smartphones, self-driving cars and artificial intelligence (AI) data center servers.
▲Photo of TSMC chip factory in November 2023 (Source: TSMC)
As with all of TSMC's state-of-the-art fabs, the cleanroom area of these three fabs is about twice that of an industry-standard logic fab.
Together, the three chip factories will create more than 25,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs, as well as thousands of indirect jobs.
TSMC's Arizona fab aims to achieve a 90% water recycling rate. TSMC has begun designing and building an industrial water recycling plant to achieve "near-zero liquid discharge," where almost every drop of water is returned to the facility.
In addition to the proposed $6.6 billion in direct funding, the PMT also proposes a loan of up to $5 billion to TSMC. TSMC plans to claim an investment tax credit from the U.S. Treasury Department of up to 25% of TSMC's Arizona qualified capital expenditure.
By comparison, last month, Intel received $8.5 billion in direct funding, $11 billion in loans, 25% tax credits, and up to $100 billion in qualified capital expenditures under the U.S. CHIPS Act.
TSMC remains committed to its long-term financial goals of 15-20% revenue CAGR in US dollar terms, gross margin of 53% and higher, and return on equity of 25% and higher.
"The CHIPS and Science Act provides TSMC with an unprecedented investment opportunity and foundry services for our most advanced manufacturing technologies in the United States," said TSMC Chairman Deyin Liu, "Our U.S. operations allow us to better support our U.S. customers, including several of the world's leading technology companies." Our U.S. presence will also expand our capabilities to lead the future of semiconductor technology." ”
"We are honored to support our pioneering customers in mobile, AI, and high-performance computing, whether in chip design, hardware systems, or software, algorithms, and large language models," said Dr. Zhejia Wei, President of TSMC. As their foundry partner, we will help unlock innovation by increasing the production capacity of top-of-the-line technologies through TSMC Arizona. To date, we are excited about the progress of our Arizona facility and are committed to its long-term success. ”