You are currently viewing SemiWiki as a guest which gives you limited access to the site. To view blog comments and experience other SemiWiki features you must be a registered member. Registration is fast, simple, and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
Texas Instruments is building a $60 billion U.S. manufacturing megaproject where Apple vows to make "critical foundation semiconductors" for iPhones and other devices. CNBC went to Sherman, Texas, for an exclusive first look inside the newest fab of seven TI's building in Utah and Texas to provide U.S.-made chips to customers like Nvidia and Ford. TI shares have suffered amid tariff concerns, and it's lost analog market share for several years, but top leaders are confident about the huge spend.
Hopefully TI is taking TSMC's strategy of building fabs for customers rather than building fabs in hopes of customers. Mabey the USG will take a stake in TI as well?
Hopefully TI is taking TSMC's strategy of building fabs for customers rather than building fabs in hopes of customers. Mabey the USG will take a stake in TI as well?
This is especially true for advanced logic IDMs seeking external foundry customers. If their captive, internal customers fail to perform, the foundries will suffer significantly. Can they simply attract more external customers to offset the risk? So far, neither Samsung nor Intel has been able to do so successfully for a variety of reasons.
On the pure-play foundry side, their customers are more diversified. From 2024 TSMC Annual Report:
"In 2024, the Company manufactured 11,878 different products using 288 distinct technologies for 522 different customers."
TI has been strategically brilliant in their fab construction in the past. They built one fab, as the video notes, with Qimonda equipment after the GFC.
I think TI is building fab shells, not complete fabs. Why not, the USG is paying for it via the Chips act. Note the emptiest looking fab ballroom in the video.
If there is another pandemic like chip shortage, TI will be able to do something. Maybe ramp up in 1.5 years. When you have the fab building, the facilities, all you need to do is bring the equipment in and that can be done in 9 months or so. That seems like a reasonable strategy to me.