TSMC ‘actively’ mulling US fab

“TSMC is facing a strategic decision of whether it wants to later focus more on the U.S. market or the Chinese market,” Su Tze-Yun, director of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the Nikkei, “building an advanced chip plant could be one solution.”

TSMC gets 60% of its revenues from the  US and 20% from China.

“The U.S. is concerned that any of its high-security chip design blueprints could fall into Chinese hands,” added Su, “meanwhile, the U.S. is also concerned that TSMC’s Chinese customers could secretly help the Chinese army build chips targeting the U.S.”

TSMC has been under pressure from the US government to build a fab in the US because of worries that China could get US military secrets from Taiwanese fabs and because of its strategic importance to Huawei.

“We have been studying it continuously,” replied TSMC chairman Mark Liu when asked, earlier this year, if it would build a US fab.

TSMC has decided to build its 3nm fab in Tainan where it intends to break ground this year and run wafers in 2022.  It is said to be still looking for sites for its 2nm fab.

24 years ago, TSMC started building a US fab – an 8” fab – at Camas in Washington State. Altera , now owned by Intel, took a 23% in the company which owned the fab – Wafertech – but sold its stake to TSMC for $350 million in 2000.