After Tim Cook said Apple would source chips from TMSC’s Arizona plant, a new report sheds more light on what process it will start using and how much it will initially produce. After initially saying it would start producing chips in Arizona on a 5-nanometer process, the company apparently changed its mind. When the first plant is fully operational in what now appears to be 2024, it will be producing 4nm chips. By then, TSMC’s main foundry is expected to be at 3 nanometers.
And, a new report says that about a third of the plant’s capacity will be used for Apple. The plant’s previous capacity was said to be about 20,000 full wafers, and the report also says that number could increase over time.
The plan is expected to be fully disclosed on Dec. 6. Tech luminaries including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su are expected to be on hand. President Joe Biden, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are also said to be in attendance, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday night.
“We’ve made a decision to buy out capacity from a plant in Arizona, which opens in 2024, so we’ve got about two years on this, maybe a little less,” Cook reportedly said at a conference in Europe in October.” In Europe, I’m sure that as these plans become more apparent, we will also source from Europe if necessary.”
TSMC’s chip manufacturing facility in Arizona begins construction in June 2021. The company initially expected to start production in September 2022, but the schedule was pushed back by about six months – a delay that pushed full chip manufacturing to 2024.
Arizona’s labor pool also reportedly poses a challenge for TSMC. Intel already employs 12,000 people and is seeking to hire another 3,000 for its expanded facility. TSMC will have to compete in an area where unemployment is already low and the availability of clean water may also be an issue when it comes to finding talent for its new plant.
TSMC seems skeptical about the level of success it can achieve in the United States. And, chips purchased from TSMC Arizona will still have to be shipped to China or India for iPhone production if Apple is to keep the current locations for iPhone production intact. A shift to U.S.-based iPhone production by 2024 seems unlikely.
In July, TSMC’s stock fell 35 percent for the year. By Sept. 30, it was down 41 percent. on Nov. 3, it reached its 2022 low, down 49 percent for the year.
