Good.
TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
11–20 of 294 posts
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#12I guess this is TSMCs getaway if things will get sour with China.
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#13It’s good news geopolitically, and the construction will produce a lot of jobs. But people should temper long-term job expectations. This huge of an investment in a tech where TSMC will face competition from fabs in lower-cost countries almost certainly means the company believes it can use extensive automation to avoid having labor costs sink their ability to compete on price. (Yes, there may be a window where they…
> It’s good news geopolitically I actually think the opposite. It will be good for global supply chains but not geopolitics, because it reduces the reliance on Taiwan thus opening it up for assimilation.
I think it actually increases assimilation with the US instead. One of the things that improved US relations with Japan when there was fear that they would take over the US was when they started building a bunch of US-based manufacturing.
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#14I guess this is TSMCs getaway if things will get sour with China.
Remember when Warren Buffet invested into TSMC and someone said he must know something we don't?
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It’s good news geopolitically I actually think the opposite. It will be good for global supply chains but not geopolitics, because it reduces the reliance on Taiwan thus opening it up for assimilation.
Nope. Chips clearly have a national security component. Ensuring local supply reinforces national security. Which reinforces geopolitical commitments through making those commitments more credible. Edit-removed a comment
> Nice try though.
I think you shouldn't use that type of wording on hacker news. It's clearly against the rules.
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#16It’s good news geopolitically, and the construction will produce a lot of jobs. But people should temper long-term job expectations. This huge of an investment in a tech where TSMC will face competition from fabs in lower-cost countries almost certainly means the company believes it can use extensive automation to avoid having labor costs sink their ability to compete on price. (Yes, there may be a window where they…
> This huge of an investment in a tech where TSMC will face competition from fabs in lower-cost countries almost certainly means the company believes it can use extensive automation to avoid having labor costs sink their ability to compete on price.
What countries are you imagining that will suddenly become competitive in semiconductor manufacturing? As far as I know there are no up and coming companies of note. (Companies in China are not of note as they have been permanently prevented from further advancement.)
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#17Well that seems significant. Article says the chips in the 2nd fabs will be better than the first. And will meet all domestic US demand. Not sure what all that includes. I wonder how domestic the full supply chain is. If the US is relying on China for rare earth metals or something.
> I wonder how domestic the full supply chain is.
The supply chain necessarily includes some Japanese and Dutch companies for their specialized tooling that cannot be sourced from American companies. Many of the spare parts and raw materials can be sourced domestically.
However, it is ultimately unavoidable that many of the constituents within these spare parts, repair kits and raw materials would be manufactured/synthesized in China.
(I worked on the supply chain systems and processes at Samsung Austin Semiconductor for almost a decade.)
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#18Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#19Well that seems significant. Article says the chips in the 2nd fabs will be better than the first. And will meet all domestic US demand. Not sure what all that includes. I wonder how domestic the full supply chain is. If the US is relying on China for rare earth metals or something.
The US has rare earth mines and even more deposits. They just got priced out through decades of lower prices for those minerals. (Which just shows that resource allocation even for scarce resources, follows financial incentives similar to other financial considerations. Stuff being left in the ground actually makes them available for another day when they’re higher valued.)
Indeed, but rare earth mining also has negative environmental impact even above and beyond normal mining operations. The US is partly paying China to outsource the environmental devastation.
Re: TSMC ups Arizona investment from $12B to $40B with second semi fab
#20I'm interested in the financial aspect of this. Assuming US Fabs are more expensive than in Taiwan that then must mean lower margins or higher prices.
I wonder if Apple for example has said that they are prepared to pay a premium to ensure diversity of supply?