TSMC to Begin Official Production of 4nm Process Products Next Month at US Factory

Yangsan Outlook for Q1 Next Year
Plant 2 Scheduled for 2028, Plant 3 for 2030

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer), is set to begin full-scale production of wafers using 4nm (1nm = one billionth of a meter) process technology next month at its Arizona plant in the United States, according to reports from Taiwan media including United Daily News on the 4th.

According to sources, TSMC will hold a completion ceremony for Fab 21, Plant 1, located in Phoenix, Arizona, in early next month, and will officially start producing 12-inch (305mm) wafers using 4nm technology. Mass production is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year. The sources added that the Arizona TSMC plant is designed as a 'Mega fab' integrating large-scale semiconductor factories and research facilities, and that the size of the cleanrooms installed in the fab is twice that of similar industry counterparts.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Earlier, TSMC Arizona Plant 1 began pilot production using 4nm process technology in April. After the yield of semiconductors produced during the pilot phase was confirmed to be about 4 percentage points higher than similar facilities in Taiwan, the originally planned factory operation schedule, which was set for the first half of next year, was moved up by several months to last September. It is known that the three U.S. factories built by TSMC receive subsidies totaling $6.6 billion (approximately 9 trillion KRW) from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Sources explained that Plant 1 is expected to produce about 40,000 wafers per month, and that Plant 2 was planned to introduce 3nm process technology but was postponed due to a surge in 4nm orders. Plant 2 plans to mass-produce about 50,000 wafers around 2028. Plant 3 is planning to produce 2nm or A16 (1.6nm process) around 2030. Nanometers refer to the unit indicating the semiconductor circuit line width; the narrower the line width, the lower the power consumption and the faster the processing speed. Currently, the world's most advanced mass production technology is 3nm.

Taiwanese media reported that amid the intensifying U.S.-China technology war, TSMC's Arizona plant will serve as a barometer of the U.S.'s local semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, and that TSMC is pursuing plans to expand from Plants 1-3 to Plants 4-6 in Phoenix.

Previously, the Arizona plant held an equipment installation ceremony for the TSMC factory in December 2022. The event attracted significant attention with the attendance of political figures including U.S. President Joe Biden, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, local governors and legislators, as well as business leaders such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su, TSMC founder Morris Chang, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu, and TSMC CEO Wei Zhejia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.