TSMC’s U.S. Arizona plant is expected to mass-produce 4nm in 2024, and Qualcomm’s global senior vice president and chief operating officer Chen Ruowen said Qualcomm will be the first customer for TSMC’s U.S. plant’s 4nm, according to Taiwan media’s Economic Daily News.
Qualcomm inaugurated its Hsinchu building on March 17, and TSMC’s Senior Vice President of Business and Research Development for Europe and Asia, Hou Yongqing, attended the ceremony to pay tribute and participated in the industry summit hosted by Qualcomm, demonstrating the close relationship between the two companies.
As for the media’s concern about whether Qualcomm is evaluating film production at TSMC’s Arizona plant, Chen Ruowen said that Qualcomm began evaluating long ago and that Qualcomm would be the first customer for TSMC’s U.S. plant’s 4nm process.
As previously reported last December TSMC tripled its planned investment in the Arizona chip plant, which began construction late last year, to $40 billion (currently about 275.6 billion yuan). The plant, one of the largest overseas investments in U.S. history, is set to start production in 2026 with advanced 3nm technology.
However, Digitimes quoted sources as saying that, judging from the current engineering and equipment installation progress, TSMC’s new U.S. fab is unlikely to be fully operational in 2024, and is likely to be delayed until 2025.
A semiconductor equipment supply chain source revealed that the overall construction and equipment installation progress of TSMC’s new fab in Arizona had been delayed, while the foundry must also address severe manpower shortages, soaring costs and emerging education and adaptation issues involving foreign employees.
