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Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

tomshardware.com

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Re: Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

#4

Post by hollow-moe »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #2

These chips are still sent to Taiwan for packing, so it's a good step but not a complete step.

what is involved in the packaging process ? I believe they don't ship fully assembled chips to Taiwan only to be put in a pretty box ?

Re: Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

#5

Post by _aavaa_ »

m348e912 wrote: post #3
datadrivenangel wrote: post #2

These chips are still sent to Taiwan for packing, so it's a good step but not a complete step.

How does this make any financial sense?

This is how most modern supply chains look like.

Plus, chips are small in size and cost a lot so you can fit a lot in a container. Per unit shipping costs probably come out to be pretty low. Especially when compared to the political costs and risks associated with not onshoring.

Re: Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

#6

Post by dgfitz »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #2

These chips are still sent to Taiwan for packing, so it's a good step but not a complete step.

Until 2027, yes.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/tsmc-is-repo...

"TSMC does not have an advanced packaging facility in the U.S., and its partner Amkor will only start packaging chips in Arizona in 2027. As a result, Blackwell AI silicon produced in Arizona will need to be shipped back to Taiwan for final assembly, as all of TSMC's CoWoS packaging capacity remains in Taiwan."

Re: Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

#7

Post by arcticbull »

m348e912 wrote: post #3
datadrivenangel wrote: post #2

These chips are still sent to Taiwan for packing, so it's a good step but not a complete step.

How does this make any financial sense?

Marine shipping is just about the most fuel efficient way of moving things between any two places, by a lot. A 100,000 dwt ship can get 1050 miles per gallon per ton of cargo. It takes about a teaspoon full of fuel to move an iPhone sized device across the pacific when I ran the numbers last.

Re: Apple will soon receive 'made in America' chips from TSMC's Arizona fab

#9

Post by jsheard »

hollow-moe wrote: post #4
datadrivenangel wrote: post #2

These chips are still sent to Taiwan for packing, so it's a good step but not a complete step.

what is involved in the packaging process ? I believe they don't ship fully assembled chips to Taiwan only to be put in a pretty box ?

I believe packaging in this context means taking the raw silicon dies and assembling them into a package which can be soldered onto a PCB (or put in a socket, but Apple doesn't socket anything).
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