TSMC executives meet with local government officials in Taichung
As you might imagine, building production facilities for a cutting-edge fab not only costs money, it also takes space. The mayor of Taichung, Shiow-Yen Lu, says that if ground is broken in his city to build a 2nm fab, the cost of the project will be one trillion Taiwan Dollars ($36.2 billion USD). But city officials are concerned about the environmental impact of building a factory in Taichung despite all of the jobs and money that will be flowing into that area.
TSMC CEO Dr. Wei at left and Taichung mayor Shiow-Yen Lu on the right. Image credit Taiching City Government
TSMC CEO Dr. C.C. Wei and other company executives met with the mayor on Friday. Ms. Lu did speak to the media about the number of jobs that the TSMC 2nm fab would bring to her city. At the same time, she suggested the use of renewable energy to handle the electricity needs of the plant.
Accompanying the CEO was three TSMC vice presidents: Wang Ying-lang (fab operations), Arthur Chuang (facility division), and Jonathan Lee (corporate planning). In another statement, TSMC's CEO said that Taichung was a good choice for a location where TSMC could expand its production capacity. That's due to the city's excellent geographical and climatic conditions.
Local media in Taiwan took a look at the executives that attended the meeting and concluded that the real reason for the get-together had something to do with the building of a second 2nm facility in Taichung. What also made the meeting suspicious in the eyes of the local media is that Dr. Wei had never taken the time before to meet with local government officials in an area where one of its facilities is located.
TSMC's primary 2nm fab will be located in Hsinchu
The fact that Taichung has many hospitals, schools, and malls will help it attract top tech talent if the foundry determines that a second 2nm production facility is needed. The factory possibly planned for Taichung is not the foundry's primary location of its 2nm production; that honor goes to Hsinchu. Not only is Taichung well suited to host a 2nm fab, it also can provide TSMC with accessibility to large amounts of water, one of the most important environmental considerations that TSMC requires.
Chips are built in clean rooms to prevent any impurities from contaminating the assembly line. Thus the water used in this process must also be pure and cannot contain any contaminants. Hsinchu officials want TSMC to detail its plan to switch to recycled water at the 2nm facility.
With volume production of 3nm chips expected during the second half of 2022, mass production of 2nm chips is penciled in for 2025. The smaller the process node, the higher the number of transistors that can fit inside a chip. And that is important because the more transistors inside a chip, the more powerful or energy-efficient the chip can be.
Samsung Foundry is using a similar roadmap and is also expected to start volume production of 3nm chips during the second half of 2022.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sbTOp5yaqpWjrm%2BvzqZmp52nqHy1v8ycZKmkkaPAbn7NpmSpqp%2BZwqTAyKilZqGeYn9xfpSYoJ1pY2yBdn4%3D