TSMC announced Thursday that it will have to delay the start of large-scale production at its Fab 21 in Arizona until 2025. This setback is primarily due to the inability to set up all the necessary cleanroom tools in a timely manner. Due to lack of qualified staff. To fix this, TSMC has deployed about 500 Taiwanese staff with hands-on experience in installing fab tools.
“We are working to improve the situation by sending experienced engineers from Taiwan to train local skilled workers for a short period of time, but the production schedule for N4 process technology will be postponed until 2025. I anticipate.” Said TSMC Chairman Mark Liu during an earnings call with financial analysts and investors. “We face several challenges due to the lack of skilled workers with the necessary expertise to install equipment in semiconductor-grade facilities.”
The hurdles encountered by TSMC are severe enough for the foundry to delay the start of mass production at Fab 21 Phase 1 from early 2024 to possibly 2025, equivalent to a delay of about a year. The company has yet to pinpoint an exact date in 2025 when it plans to start mass-producing the chips in Arizona.
It remains to be seen how the delayed launch of TSMC’s Fab 21 will affect US customers, while the company is “re-routing” orders from customers such as Apple, AMD and Nvidia to its factories in Taiwan. Just do it. On the other hand, however, the company’s factory in Taiwan could reach full capacity in 2024. Additionally, customers such as AMD and Nvidia may want to produce certain products in the US for the US government, which could violate regulations if delayed by a year. contract.
Construction of TSMC’s Fab 21 Phase 1 began in April 2021 and was completed around mid-2022, slightly later than originally planned. In December 2022, TSMC began installing equipment. Based on standard procedures, it usually takes about a year to set up a clean room in a factory. As such, TSMC originally predicted that the factory would be up and running in his early 2024.
However, the unfamiliarity of local employees with TSMC’s unique needs has caused various delays in setting up production tools at Fab 21.
Just last month, TSMC confirmed that it is still in talks with the U.S. government to secure nonimmigrant visas for Taiwanese professionals to work in the U.S. Nikkei reports that TSMC could also set up fab tools of about 500. As a mechanical and electrical system in a factory that was to send a man technician.
