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Well 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'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?
Not unlikely that there’s a significant political aspect involved here too though.
I'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?
Apple doesn't care that much about cost of chips. Their margins are wide enough that even a substantial increase in chip pricing won't significantly impact their profits.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
There is no blame to be placed else where.
No one is tricking China into destroying their environment.
Well 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/syn…
TSMC is going to benefit from the microchip industry that's already in Phoenix thanks to Intel's enormous presence here.
I remember reading that making chips requires a lot of water, something that Arizona is running out of, will this be a problem?
No, Arizona is not running out of water. https://www.arizonawaterfacts.com/water-your-facts
I guess this is TSMCs getaway if things will get sour with China.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
No, China is absorbing the economic impact of destroying their own environment. There is no blame to be placed else where. No one is tricking China into destroying their environment.
Don't these fabs need like an insane amount of water? Why would they build it of all places in arizona which as far as I know barely meets drinking water requirements (at least at some cities) and is basically mostly a desert?
Although Phoenix is one of America's most progressive cities with regard to minimizing per-capita water usage, the whole prospect of the city of Phoenix was ill-conceived from the beginning.
Of course that doesn't matter now -- the city is there. But I hope that TSMC knows what they're getting themselves in to.