The world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, Taiwan's TSMC, is expected to start mass production at its U.S. plant from the first quarter of next year, according to reports.
According to Taiwanese media, including the Liberty Times, TSMC has recently begun preparing for wafer mass production using advanced 4NANO (nanometer, 1 billionth of a meter) process technology at the phase 1 (1A) plant area in its Phoenix, Arizona facility. In phase 1, the company plans to produce approximately 10,000 12-inch (305 mm) wafers per month.
Reports indicate that TSMC plans to fully operate the P1 1A plant by mid-next year, aiming to produce 20,000 wafers per month for its four major clients: Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm.
According to reports citing local sources, TSMC has been conducting trial production of products for its four major clients, including artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), since April. The reports also noted that the phase 2 (1B) plant area of the P1 facility has been completed, and equipment installation has started with mass production expected to begin by mid-next year.
Other sources revealed that the TSMC plant in Arizona spans an area of 445 hectares (1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters). They added that it is designed as a large semiconductor factory, referred to as a 'Mega fab,' integrating large-scale semiconductor production and research facilities, with clean rooms installed in the fab being twice the size of those in other similar industry fabs.
Furthermore, the under-construction Phoenix phase 2 plant (P2) is set to produce 2-nanometer chips by 2028, while the phase 3 plant (P3) plans to start 2-nanometer or 'A16' (1.6-nanometer process) production before the end of 2030.
Taiwanese media reported that the U.S. semiconductor production share has decreased from 37% 20 years ago to 12% currently, noting that interest is focused on whether the establishment of TSMC's U.S. plant will revive manufacturing in the country.
However, it pointed out that due to the lack of semiconductor supply chains in the U.S., TSMC is importing Taiwanese materials for factory construction-related materials and stabilizing yields (the ratio of good products to produced goods).
With rising tariffs and transportation expenses due to this situation, it is forecasted that production costs in the U.S. will be at least 30% higher than in Taiwan, indicating a high likelihood of an increase in foundry prices at the U.S. plant.