TSMC halts U.S. plant completion as tensions grow after Trump victory

[Daniel Nenni]

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) was rumored to be holding a completion ceremony for its first new plant in Phoenix, Arizona on December 6. This has now reportedly been canceled — or postponed — following president elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. elections.

The entire atmosphere around the smartphone industry and the tech world at large has been tense since the elections. A major reason for this are Trump’s proposed tariffs which have scared consumers and companies alike. Almost everyone is adamant that these tariffs will lead to more expensive goods for the end consumer as companies will simply raise prices to offset tariff costs.

It also doesn’t help that Trump has had some not-so-kind things to say about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and TSMC in particular. In his words, TSMC has “stolen 95 percent of our business” and placed it in Taiwan instead. Trump’s end goal with his tariffs seems to be to force companies to bring their manufacturing back to the United States, an admirable goal if somewhat farfetched.

The Phoenix plant is the first of three planned facilities to be constructed in the city. TSMC promised that the third facility would let the company start manufacturing 2 nm chipsets in the U.S. before the decade ends.

The ceremony, which was to be attended by current President Joe Biden as well, is now rumored to have been postponed till February. This postponement likely signals TSMC’s cautious approach to conducting business in the U.S. now that Trump has won. It’s likely that the company is waiting to see what policies take effect after Trump is sworn in on January 20.

There is a strong possibility that nothing will come of this: the U.S. relies too heavily on TSMC and the Taiwanese company doesn’t really have any formidable competition. However, if the Trump administration does take some controversial steps we might just see the Phoenix plant close down before it’s even fully operational.

Just like the Samsung Foundry plant in Taylor, Texas.

TSMC halts U.S. plant completion as tensions grow after Trump victory

TSMC has halted the completion of its first new plant in Phoenix as the company awaits Trump's new policies to take effect in January.

www.phonearena.com

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Catchy title but complete nonsense.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Here is the article that was referenced (translated):

TSMC's new Arizona factory is expected to be completed early next year​

Photo/Associated Press

TSMC’s first wafer fab in Arizona is expected to hold a completion ceremony early next year. Foreign media pointed out that TSMC will hold its first board meeting in the United States in February next year, and the completion ceremony is expected to start at the same time.

Taiwan's semiconductor-related supply chain is still waiting for TSMC's opening announcement, but there is no clear date. TSMC has also remained tight-lipped about this, saying only that the company has never announced the date for the completion ceremony of the U.S. plant.

There were rumors in the market recently that the completion ceremony of TSMC's first wafer fab in Arizona will be held on December 6. The current US President Biden and the incoming Trump, as well as TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou and Chairman Wei Zhejia will attend the ceremony. Attend. In addition, Apple CEO Cook, Huida founder Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su are also expected to attend. However, people familiar with the matter said that the news that the two presidents appeared on the same stage was false and the rumors were not credible.

TSMC's global layout is taking shape. The United States is expected to establish three factories, with the first factory expected to start mass production in early 2025. The first factory in Kumamoto, Japan, will start mass production in December, and the second factory will start site preparation. Dresden, Germany, is expected to start mass production before the end of 2027. Produce.

Among them, TSMC’s Arizona plant has an investment scale of US$65 billion and plans to build three wafer fabs. The first phase will be mass-produced in the first quarter of next year, using a 4-nanometer process; the second phase will be mass-produced in 2028, with a planning of 3-4 nanometers. 3-nanometer manufacturing process, the third factory plans to cut into 2 nanometers or A16 nanometers, and plans to mass produce in 2030. In addition, the United States promotes the "Chip Act" to provide TSMC with a subsidy and incentive package, including a subsidy of US$6.6 billion (approximately NT$214 billion), plus a loan of up to US$5 billion (approximately NT$162.1 billion) .

https://www.ctee.com.tw/news/20241114700073-430501

 

[adramtech]

they forgot the word ceremony in the title

 

[blueone]

Trump's strategy in his first term was to threaten outlandish and silly actions, which were subsequently revealed to be negotiating tactics. Threatening to leave NATO, walking away from NAFTA (only to to negotiate a replacement), various trade threats to China about them buying more US goods (which were subsequently ignored), his ridiculous demeanor towards North Korea (about having a bigger nuclear button)... the list is long. Everything Trump has said about Taiwan is very reminiscent of his first term tactics. Annoying, but predictable. As usual, buried in his rhetoric are some reasonable points, like about Taiwan's low level of defense spending and military readiness, but I'm sure we're in for four years of him making our eyes roll.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Trump's strategy in his first term was to threaten outlandish and silly actions, which were subsequently revealed to be negotiating tactics. Threatening to leave NATO, walking away from NAFTA (only to to negotiate a replacement), various trade threats to China about them buying more US goods (which were subsequently ignored), his ridiculous demeanor towards North Korea (about having a bigger nuclear button)... the list is long. Everything Trump has said about Taiwan is very reminiscent of his first term tactics. Annoying, but predictable. As usual, buried in his rhetoric are some reasonable points, like about Taiwan's low level of defense spending and military readiness, but I'm sure we're in for four years of him making our eyes roll.

The world is in a game of poker right now and bluffing is a big part of the game. The semiconductor industry will continue to boom as a result since AI is being weaponized.

 

[hist78]

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) was rumored to be holding a completion ceremony for its first new plant in Phoenix, Arizona on December 6. This has now reportedly been canceled — or postponed — following president elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. elections.

The entire atmosphere around the smartphone industry and the tech world at large has been tense since the elections. A major reason for this are Trump’s proposed tariffs which have scared consumers and companies alike. Almost everyone is adamant that these tariffs will lead to more expensive goods for the end consumer as companies will simply raise prices to offset tariff costs.

It also doesn’t help that Trump has had some not-so-kind things to say about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and TSMC in particular. In his words, TSMC has “stolen 95 percent of our business” and placed it in Taiwan instead. Trump’s end goal with his tariffs seems to be to force companies to bring their manufacturing back to the United States, an admirable goal if somewhat farfetched.

The Phoenix plant is the first of three planned facilities to be constructed in the city. TSMC promised that the third facility would let the company start manufacturing 2 nm chipsets in the U.S. before the decade ends.

The ceremony, which was to be attended by current President Joe Biden as well, is now rumored to have been postponed till February. This postponement likely signals TSMC’s cautious approach to conducting business in the U.S. now that Trump has won. It’s likely that the company is waiting to see what policies take effect after Trump is sworn in on January 20.

There is a strong possibility that nothing will come of this: the U.S. relies too heavily on TSMC and the Taiwanese company doesn’t really have any formidable competition. However, if the Trump administration does take some controversial steps we might just see the Phoenix plant close down before it’s even fully operational.

Just like the Samsung Foundry plant in Taylor, Texas.

TSMC halts U.S. plant completion as tensions grow after Trump victory

TSMC has halted the completion of its first new plant in Phoenix as the company awaits Trump's new policies to take effect in January.

www.phonearena.com

"However, if the Trump administration does take some controversial steps we might just see the Phoenix plant close down before it’s even fully operational."

I'm wondering if Mr. Abdullah Asim, the author, knows enough to write this article, or if he was still feeling the effects of a hangover from previous night’s parties.

 

[Paul2]

The world is in a game of poker right now and bluffing is a big part of the game. The semiconductor industry will continue to boom as a result since AI is being weaponized.

I don't see it much booming past the stock market, and very low volume, very expensive chips. On the opposite, the gross margin on the mainstream products is going down, and is heading towards where it was around 2008-2012, which was the rock bottom of the previous cycle.

I just keep repeating to everyone who asks me that the semi industry is very cyclic, the cycle has worked without failure for the entire 60 years of industry's existence, and it is bound to eventually repeat, with all known predictors of the end of the semi cycle being there.

Take a look at GloFo, UMC, SEC. Yes, they got a number of clients willing to pay extra on the wave of speculative interest, but their high volume service is still making more or less same chips they did 5 years ago. Once these fat clients will go down when the bitcoin/ai/5g bubble will pop, they will have no rice.

 

[Maximus]

[News] TSMC Reports Progress on Arizona Fab, No Completion Ceremony Planned | TrendForce News

According to a report from TechNews, on November 15th, TSMC founder Morris Chang attended National Taiwan University’s 96th anniversary event in perso...

www.trendforce.com

According to a report from TechNews, on November 15th, TSMC founder Morris Chang attended National Taiwan University’s 96th anniversary event in person. During an interview with the media, Chang stated that the progress of TSMC’s Arizona fab construction in the United States is going well, but it is unlikely that a completion ceremony will be held.

 

[Brady]

This “cancelling” is probably just to make it so the new administration gets a photo op with the project completion. That is a great way to endear them to your cause. TSMC is probably just playing shrewd politics here.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

I don't see it much booming past the stock market, and very low volume, very expensive chips. On the opposite, the gross margin on the mainstream products is going down, and is heading towards where it was around 2008-2012, which was the rock bottom of the previous cycle.

I just keep repeating to everyone who asks me that the semi industry is very cyclic, the cycle has worked without failure for the entire 60 years of industry's existence, and it is bound to eventually repeat, with all known predictors of the end of the semi cycle being there.

Take a look at GloFo, UMC, SEC. Yes, they got a number of clients willing to pay extra on the wave of speculative interest, but their high volume service is still making more or less same chips they did 5 years ago. Once these fat clients will go down when the bitcoin/ai/5g bubble will pop, they will have no rice.

True, the boom is the chip ASP and fab construction. The ability to fill those fabs, which is unit sales, is concerning but I have never seen so much investment in the semiconductor ecosystem so that is a boom.

Personally I do not see a bright future for foundries that do not have the ability to build new technologies. You can only milk a cash cow for so long before it becomes hamburger.