TSMC mega-plant nearing manufacturing start date in north Phoenix – The Arizona Republic
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has refined the opening schedule for its giant semiconductor-manufacturing operations in north Phoenix, with an official production launch slated for the first half of 2025.
The complex’s original target was to start production by the end of 2024. That was later revised to sometime in 2025 and now refined to the first half of that year. The original delay was pegged to a lack of skilled employees to install specialized manufacturing equipment.
The latest update was part of an Oct. 19 conference call with stock-market analysts given by TSMC’s CEO, C.C. Wei. He said the company is receiving strong support from officials representing Phoenix, the state of Arizona and the federal government and continues “to develop positive relationships and work closely with our local trade and union partners.”
Wei also said the company is making “good progress” in terms of infrastructure, utilities and equipment installation in the first of TSMC’s two fabs or semiconductor-manufacturing plants at the site just west of Interstate 17 and north of Loop 303.
“We have also begun early preparations for our Arizona fab operations and have hired close to 1,100 local TSMC employees so far,” he said. “Many of them have been brought to Taiwan for extensive “hands-on” experience in our fabs so that they can further their technical skills, while being immersed in TSMC’s operational environment and culture.”
TSMC employs about 2,000 people in Arizona, including temporary workers from Taiwan, and ranks among the 100 largest nongovernmental employers in the state.
The company is targeting high-volume production of N4 or four-nanometer semiconductors in the first half of 2025. Wei said TSMC leaders are confident that once operations begin, “We will be able to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan.”
Four-nanometer is an advanced technology that provides efficiency and performance on smaller and more densely packed chips, though the company also is producing three-nanometer chips and will do so here when a second Arizona fab at the complex opens in 2026.
Wei said the initial costs of overseas fabs are higher than those in Taiwan because of factors including smaller fab scale and higher supply-chain expenses.
“TSMC’s responsibility is to manage and minimize the cost gap to maximize the return for our shareholders,” Wei told the stock analysts. “At the same time, we will leverage our fundamental competitive advantages of manufacturing-technology leadership, large volume (production) and economies of scale to continuously drive our costs down.”
By taking such actions, TSMC will have the ability to absorb the higher costs of overseas fabs and still deliver strong profit-margin and return-on-investment figures, he said. TSMC primarily manufactures in Taiwan but also has plants in China and Japan along with a less-advanced factory in Washington state, with plans to start manufacturing in Germany, too.
Wei’s comments in the conference call came following an earnings report in which TSMC posted net income of $6.6 billion on revenue of $17.3 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30.
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