TSMC Looking Into Expanding Chip Manufacturing In US, Building Fab In Japan

phalse phace shares a report from Reuters: During an analyst call for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's quarterly earnings, TSMC chairman Mark Liu signaled that they are looking into building new factories in the United States and Japan. "TSMC said it will expand production capacity in China and does not rule out the possibility of a 'second phase' expansion at its $12 billion factory in the U.S. state of Arizona." Furthermore, "the CEO on Thursday revealed TSMC is currently conducting 'due diligence' on whether to build a fab in Japan, which would mark a strategically important geographic expansion for the chipmaker. Any Japan fab will be for "specialty technology" -- a term that usually refers to mature node chips that serve specific or niche markets, Liu said, adding that there is no final decision yet."

That means nothing until the fab is built.

[couchslug]

More clickbait. That is all.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

Still, it would also be in TSMC's best interest to have fabs in more than one location, especially this close to/inside China*.

* depends who's asking/who you're speaking to.

Re:

[rsilvergun]

I suspect they really will do this. Not because they love America or some nonsense or they think it's even profitable or worthwhile per se to open the factory in America. But rather because we're going to keep having pandemics and massive problems globally because we're not doing the things we need to do to stabilize global situation, and rather than pay the taxes they would be needed to create that stability they're just going to build factories all over the place so that their supply chains aren't constan

Politics

[Nite_Hawk]

They are investing in the US and Japan to make sure those countries are equally as invested in keeping TSMC and thus Taiwan neutral and independent. Especially so given that Biden wants to set aside $50B for US based chip manufacturing. They not only want a chunk of that pie, but they really don't want the US to stop relying on TSMC and thus have less interest in protecting them from China.

Re:

[crgrace]

They initially announced the development of Fab capacity in the US as a response to Trump's trade war which was particularly painful (and confusing) for the semiconductor industry.

The US is already incentivized to protect TSMC as most of our biggest companies (aside from Intel) use TSMC as their source of processed silicon.

Innovation

[awwshit]

The US will rely on TSMC as long as it stays an innovative technology leader. Having fabs in the US is nice to have but not a requirement.

Re:

[mrwireless]

This. If China invades Taiwan in the next decade, then they would instantly gain control over much of the global chip production. The exodus is a smart move - don't put all your eggs in one country.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

More likely TSMC is just responding to the US and Japan deciding that they need domestic semiconductor fabs for reasons of security and trust. Japan already has them but not the kind of very high end high capacity production that TSMC can provide.

Re:

[Tailhook]

Sucks, huh? At least we're playing the game finally; the first small hints of a US that acts in its self interest after decades of rolling over for the world.

Be angry. Wallow in it and show us your hate and we'll know our enemies. The world works better that way.

Re:

[BumboChinelo]

Go tell it to all those CEOs that moved production to china. Extremely short sighted gringos still consider the market of the future.. tesla are you there?

US better subsidize

[groobly]

The US better make sure it subsidizes this up to 100% as a strategic necessity. Based on how China is behaving, Taiwan's days as an unfettered economy are numbered.