TSMC has started producing chips using 4nm-class process technology at Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters. This is the first time such a state-of-the-art production node has been built in the United States. The confirmation from a senior official comes months after first unofficial information emerged that the factory was mass producing chips for Apple.
“For the first time in our country’s history, we are manufacturing cutting-edge 4nm chips on American soil and by American workers. Yields and quality are on par with Taiwan,” Raimondo told Reuters. Ta.
For the first time ever, we are manufacturing cutting-edge 4nm chips on American soil.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo
According to unofficial information, TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona manufactures at least three processor models. One is Apple’s A16 Bionic system-on-chip, which is used in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. It is the main processor of Apple’s S9 system-in-package for smartwatches, with two 64-bit cores and a quad-core neural engine. AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPU. These chips are manufactured on TSMC’s 4nm class (N4 and N4P) process technology.
The TSMC Arizona project will contribute to the U.S. goal of producing 20% of the world’s most advanced logic chips by 2030, set by the Biden administration several years ago before enacting the Chips and Science Act. TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona mass-produces chips for American companies (currently, the facility’s production capacity is rumored to be around 10,000 wafer starts per month), and the effort is working. This is clear evidence that this is the case.
Under the CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce provided TSMC with a $6.6 billion grant and up to $5 billion in loan guarantees. The Fab 21 site requires approximately $65 billion in funding to include three fab modules that are expected to be built and brought online by the end of 2020.
The first Fab 21 Phase 1 modules will officially begin mass production using 4nm and 5nm class process technology. The next Fab 21 Phase 2 is expected to follow in 2028 using 3nm class process technology. By the end of this decade, TSMC expects to build Fab 21 Phase 3, which will produce chips on 2nm-class and 1.6nm-class nodes and variations with backside power delivery.
