Apple manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will offer advanced 4-nanometer chips when its new US$12 billion plant in Arizona opens in 2024, an upgrade from its previous public statements, after US customers such as Apple Inc. pushed the company to do so, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
From the article: TSMC previously said it would make 20,000 wafers per month at the Arizona facility, although production may increase from those original plans, the people said. Apple will use about a third of the output as production gets underway.
Apple and other major tech companies rely on TSMC for their chipmaking needs, and the change means they’ll be able to get more of their processors from the US. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has previously told employees that his company plans to source chips from the Arizona plant.
Apple manufacturing partner TSMC plans to build another fabrication plant in Arizona alongside the US$12 billion factory it has already committed to in Phoenix, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The article says the scale of the investment is expected to roughly match that of the $12 billion it committed to the previously announced Phoenix factory. The second plant is expected to manufacture next-generation 3nm chips, a process that Apple is rumored to be moving its custom silicon to starting with the M2 Pro or M3 chip.
TSMC recently a “topping-out” ceremony for its first Arizona plant in July. The company is moving equipment into the site. The plant will utilize TSMC’s 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity, create over 1,600 high-tech professional jobs directly, and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today