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TAP TIMES -21- JANUARY 2022
The BIG Boom! (from 20) The Arizona announcement was just the
first shot out of TSMC’s mighty canon.
build a wafer fab in North Phoenix, Arizo-
na, using the company’s 5nm technology. Joint venture in Japan
Construction began last year with wafer Last year, word began to surface that
production scheduled for 2024. TSMC would also place a fab in Japan. In
November, TSMC confirmed that it is plan-
$12 billion investment ning to establish a fab as a joint venture,
This will represent a total investment, ac- Japan Advanced Semiconductor Solutions
cording to TSMC, of $12 billion from 2021 (JASM), with one of its key customers be-
to 2029. In production, the fab will pro- ing Sony Semiconductor Solutions.
duce 20,000 wafers-per-month and will
create over 1,600 direct, professional jobs. Construction of JASM is targeted for this
year with completion slated for 2024.
Seismically stable The fab, according to the companies, will
Various sources say that one of the Grand have a monthly capacity of about 45,000
Canyon state’s major benefits is that the 300mm wafers.
land is seismically stable, a key chip-mak-
ing requirement. On the other hand, Ari- The initial capital expenditure for the fab
zona has severe water shortage problems. will be about $7 billion, and TSMC says it
Chipmakers says their goal is to make “will be strongly supported by the Japa-
water use net positive. nese government.” next page
