So, maybe someone here can explain this to me. I anyways hear about how the entire semiconductor industry is completely dependent on TSMC, and nothing can operate without them, thus their geopolitical importance.
But then what are Intel, Arm, etc in this picture? I don't understand semiconductor manufacturing in enough detail -- I assume TSMC occupies a different part of the supply chain? But chip manufacturing seems like a pretty integrated process top to bottom; what's the division between them? In concrete terms, what is it that TSMC is doing that nobody else is?
With all this capital investment and the physics approaching an asymptote, my gut says we're going to see fabbed chips become more commoditized in 20 years (with lower pricing and more competition), and I'm excited for that! Imagine if you could order a fab run as frictionless as ordering business cards.
6nm and 7nm technology nodes and 100k WSPM capacity. Other investors are Sony, Toyota, and Denso, they will also be main customers.
Taiwan already has a fab in japan 40 nm, 28 nm, 22 nm, 16 nm, and 12 nm process technologies working with 55k WSPM capacity.
We talk a lot about software bloat. How good/fast do chips really need to be for defense purposes? Chips are so good now it seems you could be 2-3 generations back and still get the job done.
Also from last year:
"TSMC to build US$11 billion chip manufacturing plant in Germany" https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3230440/tsmc-build-u...
How earthquake resistant is all the lithography equipment? The alignments are so sensitive..
So what's cool about japan is people stay in the job for a long time and they are affordable, yet the country is very high tech and educated. This seems like a stronger match than America. The TSMC chairman said they retain people for 10 years in taiwan
Interesting why Japan and not some EU country. Risk wise, I think EU is a safer bet compared to Japan if China attacks Taiwan
The way I see it, which could be a naive way, is that building chips in the USA is never going to make strict economic sense. The cost of living is just too high here. But what is the value of chip autonomy, supply chain security, IP security, etc and who will pay for it?
Question I've had for a while now: Why doesn't the UK have any serious chipmaking facilities?
They'd be the perfect location wouldn't they? Abundant cheap water, absence of earthquakes, the usual business friendly environment...?
Is it feasible to a third world country to build a foundry like this? I've been curious about this for a long time. There are very few high end foundries in the world. It seems like a major supply chain risk.
Perhaps In-Q-Tel will mysteriously get $20b in new AUM.
"Abenomics" was a serious failure. Maybe Japan is starting to turn the corner, finally.
Japan not gonna go to war for you when China invades, bros
hahahahahaha
Nice choice, no way they will allow Chinese communists to get their hands on high tech.
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Japan still not gonna go to war for you when China invades, bros
I think a while back TSMC finally understood that building a factory in the US is just not feasible, so their backup is to just transition to Japan long term if Taiwan's situation doesn't pan out. During the Pandemic for example, when Japan noticed that their supply chain is too dependent on China, and that during an emergency they too are subject to export controls, even for their own factories, they immediately acted to bring manufacturing of giants such as Iris Ohyama back to Japan. Contrast that to the US and Europe who keep talking about these things, but don't actually execute(although the US at least tries to throw money at the problem).
TSMC lost the Chinese market, because their government went along headfirst with US trade war policy(similar to what Japan did in 1986, but worse in fact). South Korean officials on the other hand lobbied heavily to get long term exemptions, which allowed them to turn around their profit situation.