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(Photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, will commence official production of wafers using 4nm process technology at its factory in Arizona next month, according to reports from Taiwanese media including Yonhap News on the 4th.
Sources indicate that TSMC will complete the opening ceremony for its Fab 1 at the 21 fab (semiconductor production facility) located in Phoenix, Arizona, in early November, and will begin official production of 12-inch (305mm) wafers utilizing the 4nm technology. Mass production is expected to start in the first quarter of next year. The Arizona TSMC facility is designed as a "Mega fab," incorporating large-scale semiconductor manufacturing and research facilities, with the cleanroom size being twice that of similar facilities in the industry.
Previously, TSMC's Arizona Fab 1 began pilot production using 4nm process technology in April. The yield from this pilot production was confirmed to be about 4 percentage points higher than that of comparable facilities in Taiwan, prompting the original operational schedule, which was set for the first half of next year, to be moved up several months to September.
It is reported that the three U.S. factories being constructed by TSMC will receive a total of $6.6 billion (approximately 9 trillion won) in subsidies from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sources indicate that Fab 1 is expected to produce about 40,000 wafers per month, while Fab 2, which planned to adopt the 3nm process, has postponed its plans due to overwhelming orders for the 4nm process. Fab 2 aims to produce approximately 50,000 wafers by 2028, and Fab 3 plans to produce 2nm or A16 (1.6nm process) chips by 2030.
The term "nano" refers to the unit that indicates the line width of semiconductor circuits; the narrower the line width, the lower the power consumption and the faster the processing speed. Currently, the most advanced mass production technology in the world is the 3nm process.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
