TSMC’s fab in Phoenix, Arizona, will produce 5nm chips starting in 2024, when the company says it will have a monthly capacity of 20,000 wafers.
According to CNBC, TSMC SX strategy officer and Arizona project SX executive Rick Cassidy told the outlet that the fab’s capacity will be focused on CPUs, GPUs, IPUs, etc. for smartphone applications.
Currently, no U.S. fab can produce 5nm chips, and TSMC is changing that. “If you want more capacity, you have to build more fabs. That’s one of the reasons we moved to the U.S.,” Cassidy said, “Our customers want us to stay in the U.S. and the U.S. government wants us to stay here.”
But the report noted that TSMC’s U.S. plant still faces some challenges, such as water. Building a fab and making chips requires a lot of water. According to TSMC technical director Tony Chen, TSMC needs about 4.7 million gallons of water per day to support production.
It is understood that the water source for ZD in Arizona is groundwater. TSMC said an on-site water treatment center will recycle up to 90 percent of the water used in the plant. Chris Camacho, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and SX executive, said, “This water will be reinjected into the aquifer after reverse osmosis and other technical solutions are used.”
Another challenge is that most of the 5nm ZJs are in Asia. To address this, TSMC’s academic relations manager, Roxanna Vega, said the company will bring in some DJZJs from Taiwan, China. in addition, the company has sent more than 250 new U.S. employees for training for 12 to 18 months to keep up with the schedule.