After the ransomware attack against TSMC, the Taiwanese chip giant seems to have been cornered by another unexpected problem. According to various sources close to the company, in fact, TSMC reportedly postponed the start of production of 4nm chips at its Fab in Arizona due to lack of experienced personnel.
According to what the Wall Street JournalIndeed, TSMC would not be able to find gods expert builders in semiconductor factories in the United States. This means that the company may not finish its Fab in Arizona by 2024, as originally foreseen by its plans, and could eventually find itself forced to “import” from Taiwan a group of specialized builders for the construction of its first plant in the USA.
However, let’s take a step back in time: TSMC arrived in the United States at the end of 2022, when the Taiwanese company decided to leverage the White House CHIPS Act to reposition a large part of its production with advanced nodes (especially those at 4 nm, 3 nm and 2 nm) in North America. Behind this move there would also have been pressure from some “historic” customers of the company, such as Apple And Nvidia.
Well, the first TSMC Fab in the United States is expected to be built in Phoenix, Arizona and is expected to consist of two production lines, specializing in 3nm and 4nm chips respectively. The 4nm line was to open first, in 2024, while the 3nm line would have taken longer: its opening would have taken place in 2025, according to the company’s plans.
The impossibility of finding manufacturers capable of following TSMC’s plans on the American market, however, could jeopardize the opening of the Fab, or at least significantly delay the time window for the start of production. The Chairman of TSMC’s Mark Liu indeed told the WSJ that “we are entering a critical phase, which involves the management and installation of the most advanced machinery. However, we are encountering several difficulties in this process“.
In all likelihood, if the TSMC’s first American Fab should be completed with significant delays, also the product launch lineup of the Taiwanese chipmaker’s main customers, NVIDIA and Apple primarilycould undergo drastic changes. All that remains is to wait and hope that TSMC will be able to find manufacturers capable of realizing its new production line.
