Well that seems significant.<p>Article says the chips in the 2nd fabs will be better than the first. And will meet all domestic US demand. Not sure what all that includes.<p>I wonder how domestic the full supply chain is. If the US is relying on China for rare earth metals or something.
I've been trying to build a habit lately of finding the primary source of news like this, especially since news agencies seem to be very hit or miss with whether they link to their primary source.<p>So for whoever is interested, this is the original announcement by TSMC themselves: <a href="https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/2977" rel="nofollow">https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/2977</a>
Onshoring is a logical result of improved automation.<p>When labor costs lessen, transportation and logistics become the primary concern. Wouldn’t be surprised if 100 years from now most final good assembly is done locally.<p>Of course sometimes raw materials and inputs are more expensive to transport than the finished good, so there will always be cases where long distance transportation of finished products is still preferred
This + the recent news that Apple is planning to diversify production out of China (1) is hard not to read into regarding the US' view of where US/China relations are heading . . . any geopolitical armchair experts have a view?<p>(1) <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-china-factory-protests-foxconn-manufacturing-production-supply-chain-11670023099" rel="nofollow">https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-china-factory-protests-fo...</a>
The geopolitical context for this is wild; and in some ways is Taiwan selling its crown jewels and sacrifying its strategic relevance for unclear returns.<p><a href="https://asiatimes.com/2022/12/us-mulls-scorched-earth-strategy-for-taiwan/" rel="nofollow">https://asiatimes.com/2022/12/us-mulls-scorched-earth-strate...</a><p>US mulls scorched earth strategy for Taiwan<p>US strategy to blow up Taiwan’s semiconductor fabs to deter China might do more harm than good<p>The US is mulling disabling or destroying Taiwan’s semiconductor factories in the event of a Chinese invasion. This stark change raises questions about its capabilities and commitment to defend the island.
Don't these fabs need like an insane amount of water? Why would they build it of all places in arizona which as far as I know barely meets drinking water requirements (at least at some cities) and is basically mostly a desert?
Astounding amount of semi investments. $500B in this list alone <a href="https://semiengineering.com/where-all-the-semiconductor-investments-are-going/" rel="nofollow">https://semiengineering.com/where-all-the-semiconductor-inve...</a>
I'm interested in the financial aspect of this. Assuming US Fabs are more expensive than in Taiwan that then must mean lower margins or higher prices.<p>I wonder if Apple for example has said that they are prepared to pay a premium to ensure diversity of supply?
Does anyone else wonder how the water issues that we are seeing become more pervasive in the south west will impact long term investment? I have family that lives in PHX so I'm familiar with the area and much of the development. Though I cannot help but conclude that at some point water shortages become a massive problem in that area. My naive understanding is fab plants recycle (re-use?) much of their water but ignoring that, fab plants need people and people need water.
It's interesting to see semi fab factories becoming a hot thing here in the states with an entire campus being rolled out in Ohio along with expansions and further growth in the southwest. Can only mean good things for workers as more options become available.
It’s good news geopolitically, and the construction will produce a lot of jobs. But people should temper long-term job expectations.<p>This huge of an investment in a tech where TSMC will face competition from fabs in lower-cost countries almost certainly means the company believes it can use extensive automation to avoid having labor costs sink their ability to compete on price.<p>(Yes, there may be a window where they don’t have to compete on price, but you build fabs for 5-10 years of production)