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TSMC's large power bill

Fred Chen

Moderator
For reference, a typical nuclear 2 stack power plant in the US produces about 18,600 GWh per year (ex: Limerick, PA), or 18,600,000,000 kWh of electricity per year. Enough for ~ 1,860 EUV machines.
 
Takes 300-400kWh to produce 1CBM of concrete. 30000kWh is just about a single 40HQ container worth of concrete.
Another perspective, the amount of energy it takes to mine a bitcoin is estimated to be between 86000-286000kWh.

As noted above by count, a lot of power, but comparable to any other industrial operation...for a single EUV machine.

Problem is, it's not just the EUV scanner that consumes tremendous amount of power, and it's not just a single EUV machine they're deploying. The growth rate and the sheer number of units they're deploying along with all the accommodating equipment is putting a huge dent on Taiwan's electrical grid. TSMC accounted for 6% of the total power consumption in Taiwan in 2020. Expected to climb to 12.5% by 2025. In a country that refuses to build new nuclear power plants...in a country with very limited land to deploy renewable energy such as solar and wind...in an environment where price of energy is extremely volatile.

Yes, a two stack nuclear power plant can produce somewhere between 16-24TWh a year, that's what TSMC alone required in 2021. To double that by 2025 when it takes years to build a single nuclear power plant...even in Taiwan, is a monumental task. To generate that much additional power without nuclear power plants...means forget renewable energy targets, burn baby burn! Considering over 80% of electricity in Taiwan is produced by burning fossil fuels, I guess that wouldn't be much of a stretch.

Similar problem plaguing South Korea, Samsung uses 3% of South Korea's total electricity, +60% of which is derived from fossil fuels. At least the current administration is trying to push for more nuclear power in a country with similar limitations on the available renewable resources. Looking at the raw data, I'm not sure how either company will reach their RE100 targets unless they produce elsewhere, or at least offset elsewhere.

1663456510069.png
 
There is so much wasted energy in the US from inefficient power lines and associated curtailments that bitcoin miners are building mobile mining operations near the waste sites (marginal natural gas wells in some cases) and using this low cost energy.

In contrast, China had (may still have) rolling blackouts this summer due to the heat, which shut down industry.

US needs to get power distribution *$(! together.
 
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