TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s (TSMC) Arizona plant is expected to mass produce 4nm chips in 2024, but faces delays in its supply chain.
Local labor costs are said to be high, and operations are slow, prompting the firm to dispatch Hung Yung-ti (洪永迪), its deputy director of factory operations "to the rescue."
When building an advanced wafer fab in Taiwan with the full cooperation of suppliers, TSMC is able to complete a plant in about a year. However, it is encountering difficulties in building its new Arizona fab.
According to suppliers, TSMC's Arizona fab is divided into two sections, A and B, reported Liberty Times. While the construction of the facility for Section A is mostly completed, the cleanroom and piping systems are not yet fully operational, leading to a delay of over a year. Meanwhile, Section B is still under construction.
Preparations for the completion of Section A are not yet fully compliant with specifications. Therefore, equipment installation is only being carried out in segmented areas. Overall, the progress with equipment installation is significantly behind schedule.
Suppliers said the main reason for the construction delays at the Arizona fab is that cleanroom-related suppliers chose to forgo sending Taiwanese construction workers and instead subcontracted the work to local companies. It was believed the local contractors would be more familiar with U.S. laws, construction practices, and safety considerations.
Therefore, only a few supervisors were dispatched from Taiwan. As a result, there was a large gap between the actual situation and expectations, resulting in significant delays.
In April, TSMC sent Y.L. Wang (王英郎), TSMC's vice president for fab operations, to serve as CEO of TSMC Arizona. In recent days, Hung, has also been sent to lead a team to Arizona "to the rescue," reported the newspaper.
Hung is said to be skilled at coordinating with suppliers. TSMC said that the Arizona project has entered a critical stage and is dealing with the most advanced and sophisticated equipment.
The firm will dispatch experienced professionals to Arizona from relevant fields to support the new fab. However, the number of people is limited and the amount of time they can stay there is also limited.
