The American factory exploded, and TSMC responded

The semiconductor industry is vertical

2024-05-16 17:53Published in Guangdong science and technology creators

THIS ARTICLE IS SYNTHESIZED BY THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY (ID: ICVIEWS).

TSMC said the explosion did not cause damage to its foundry facilities.

An explosion occurred at TSMC's chip factory in Arizona on the afternoon of May 15 local time, injuring a worker and taking him to the hospital. TSMC's latest response said that the cause of the explosion was the abnormality of the outsourced sulfuric acid removal tanker entering the site, and an accident occurred when an outsourcer clearance driver checked it, and the explosion seriously injured the man. TSMC said that the ambulance sent him to the hospital as soon as possible, and the scene of the accident was handed over to the fire department for investigation, which would not affect operations or engineering.

TSMC said the explosion did not cause damage to its foundry facilities.

According to a recent statement from the local building union, the driver has died. The Arizona Construction Industry Council, a union of about 3,000 members working on TSMC projects, confirmed the worker's death on the evening of May 15 local time.

"The safety and well-being of construction workers is our top priority and we expect all regulators to conduct a thorough investigation into this incident," the union said. The goal should be to determine whether adequate safety measures are in place at the site, to investigate the cause of the accident and to take any necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies in the future. ”

In fact, in April last year, there was a fire accident at TSMC's Phoenix plant, when TSMC officials issued an emergency statement to clarify that the fire was a fire coming from the garbage pipe outside the chip factory.

It is reported that TSMC will carry out the third phase of the project in Phoenix.

The first phase is expected to start mass production in the first half of 2025, directly introducing the 4nm process, and the second phase is expected to start mass production in 2027 and 2028, using 3nm and 2nm technology, with a total investment of about US$40 billion in the two phases, and a total annual output of more than 600,000 chips after completion.

Not long ago, the U.S. Department of Commerce also announced that it plans to provide TSMC with a capital subsidy of up to $6.6 billion and a low-interest government loan of $5 billion for its construction of an advanced semiconductor factory in Phoenix, Arizona. TSMC's agreement to expand its investment in the United States to $65 billion from the previously announced $40 billion and build a third chip factory in Arizona has attracted great attention.

Phase 3 is expected to be in production by 2030 and is expected to use 2nm or better process technology.

TSMC is principally engaged in the manufacturing, sales, packaging and testing, computer-aided design and mask manufacturing of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices.

TSMC said on May 14 that it plans to start construction of its European factory in the fourth quarter of this year. Paul de Bot, head of TSMC's European operations, said work at the plant was proceeding as planned. TSMC announced in August last year that it would build the company's first factory in Europe in Germany. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2027.

Kevin Zhang, who is in charge of TSMC's international business, told reporters that he believes the subsidy for the factory under the European Chips Act will be approved, but it has not yet materialized.

"We have very strong European governments – the EU and the German government – and we are very confident that we will be able to get good support there. This is a very exciting time for the European semiconductor ecosystem...... [TSMC will] go straight into the backyard of major automotive customers. "

Zhang Xiaoqiang said that the Dresden fab will produce chips for the 22nm production node: "ESMC will enable us to bring state-of-the-art MCU technology to the heart of automotive use. "

In addition, the new governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, Kei Kimura, said in an interview on May 11 local time that he is ready to ensure full support to attract TSMC to build its third chip factory in Japan in the prefecture. Kimura said he had proposed to visit TSMC's headquarters this summer to discuss the construction of a new factory. TSMC's first factory in Japan opened in February, with mass production expected to begin later this year, and a second factory scheduled to begin by the end of the year. Both plants are subsidized by the Japanese government.

According to the financial report data, as of March 31, 2024, TSMC's consolidated revenue in the first quarter was about 132.455 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.5% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 5.3%; Net profit was RMB50.397 billion, up 8.9% year-on-year and down 5.5% quarter-on-quarter. Operating profit for the first quarter was RMB55.656 billion, up 7.7% year-on-year, estimated at RMB53.834 billion, and gross margin for the first quarter was 53.1%, estimated at 53%.

More than half of U.S. chip workers are ready to leave their jobs, affecting TSMC

Not long ago, McCeey reported that in 2023, more than half of employees in the semiconductor and electronics industries in the United States intend to leave within 3~6 months, and the same survey in 2021 shows that 4 percent of employees want to leave, and the proportion of employees who intend to leave continues to increase.

Wade Toller, a senior consultant at McKinsey, said that the U.S. semiconductor industry is about to enter a period of expansion in manpower demand, but at the same time, the skilled labor force in the industry is declining and showing an aging trend, with about one-third of the population in the semiconductor industry over the age of 55.

The shortage of manpower is a "bad omen" for chipmakers such as TSMC and Intel. TSMC and Intel are both building chip factories in the United States, and the United States has introduced the CHIPS Act and ambitiously wants to rebuild semiconductor manufacturing, but to achieve these goals, there must be enough technical manpower.

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