TSMC will be producing cutting-edge chips in the U.S. faster than originally thought
TSMC spent five years building its first fab in Arizona and the company has said that future U.S. fabs will take only two years or less to build and open. This is a big deal since it means that TSMC's U.S. factories will be able to come close to catching up with the fabs in Taiwan that produce chips for Apple and other clients using the most advanced cutting-edge process nodes.
For example, the first Arizona facility can produce silicon using older nodes. Back in September, we told you that the factory was churning out the A16 Bionic application processor (AP) currently used by Apple to power the still-available iPhone 15 model. The A16 Bionic is built using TSMC's enhanced 5nm node known as 4nm. At the same time in Taiwan, the foundry is manufacturing the A18 and A18 Pro chipsets for the iPhone 16 series using its second-generation 3nm node (N3E).
That might seem like a small difference but as the process nodes used to build chips shrink, the size of the transistors used with these chips decreases. This allows a much higher number of transistors to be shoehorned into a certain area of a chip. This is known as a chip's transistor density and as it rises, these chips become more powerful and energy-efficient. In theory, a chip produced using the 3nm node is going to be a better performer and use less energy than a chip built at 5nm or even 4nm.
In 2028, TSMC will turn on a new fab in the U.S. that will produce 3nm chips. TSMC says that it will be building 2nm chips in the U.S. "before 2030." This is currently the most advanced node and TSMC will mass-produce 2nm silicon in Taiwan sometime later this year. If the company can hit its goal of building 2nm chips in the U.S. by 2030, the American fabs could come closer to the most cutting-edge process node that TSMC's Taiwan could be using from 2027-2030 which would be 1.4nm.
Building up TSMC's U.S. capabilities is very important to Apple and might help CEO Tim Cook get some extra sleep. There is always the fear that China, looking to become self-sufficient in the production of semiconductors, will invade Taiwan and take control of TSMC. China could also invade Taiwan with the goal of reunifying China. Regardless of the reason, having U.S. fabs that could step in and produce chips at an advanced process node should Taiwan be attacked probably helps Cook sleep at night.
Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger doesn't believe that TSMC's U.S. fabs will make the U.S. a world leader in semiconductor production. He recently said that with the U.S. not involved in any R&D, the country will not be able to claim semiconductor leadership. "All of the R&D work of TSMC is in Taiwan," Gelsinger said, "and they haven’t made any announcements to move that."
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