Leanardoe t1_j07iv7e wrote
reducing taiwan reliance? neat
Avieshek OP t1_j07j4tx wrote
With Japanese precision? Neat.
Eedat t1_j0856s9 wrote
Isn't the US in the process of building a giant manufacturing plant as well?
navigationallyaided t1_j086uz6 wrote
Intel is building a new fab near Columbus, OH. TSMC is building a new facility in Arizona - there is already an Intel fab in Chandler and I think Microchip has one in Tempe or Nogales. Samsung Austin fabs non-NAND/DRAM silicon.
The actual chip “packaging” - mounting it onto a substrate or encasing it in plastic and ceramic after attaching lead wires and pins/solder pads will still happen overseas - Intel does this in Costa Rica/Philippines, Samsung ships Austin silicon back to Korea or China, and China/Korea/Vietnam/Mexico/Philippines are were silicon is packaged.
BigMikeATL t1_j087rrt wrote
Yup. The Intel plant in Chandler is currently undergoing a $20B expansion. That’s in addition to the new TSMC plant.
Samsung is also building a huge semiconductor plant in Texas.
navigationallyaided t1_j08hvik wrote
Intel also has a fab in Hillsboro - but I haven’t heard plans for it.
The eventual goal with the new C-suite at Intel - they want to be a contract supplier. Many of the current IC companies who make important components or even whole systems like Qualcomm, Marvell, Nvidia, AMD and Apple don’t have their own fabs - TSMC and Samsung are doing that. I can see Apple and Intel becoming frenemies, much like the Apple-Samsung relationship. Companies that do work with the military or critical infrastructure might be compelled to have chips fabbed in the US as a matter of national security.
Unaninu t1_j0bpaur wrote
The one in Hillsboro is literally their main fab, where all the R&D and magic happens and where all the other fab will "copy exactly".
Orome2 t1_j09ddan wrote
They are also building a new fab at the existing site in Rio Rancho, NM.
he_who_melts_the_rod t1_j09qcl7 wrote
Completely refitting fab 9.
SargeInCharge t1_j0a1gay wrote
Don't forget Micron's new $15 billion plant in Boise
navigationallyaided t1_j0aczhs wrote
And that coincided with the tail end of IMFT - the Intel-Micron NAND joint venture. Intel saw Optane as the new hotness, high-bandwidth X-point NAND that was supposed to be paired with a mechanical SSD; the Windows version of Apple’s Fusion Drive.
It was a flop, much like Intel’s gamble on Rambus RDRAM 20 years ago - and Samsung took the NAND world by storm with their 3D V-NAND.
Kongsley t1_j094vlv wrote
>Microchip has one in Tempe or Nogales.
Lol Microchip doesn't belong on the same list as Intel, TSMC, and Samsung.
navigationallyaided t1_j099kpb wrote
You’d be shocked - anything that requires RF, like car key fobs, gate/garage remotes and discrete power/timing/IO, chances are those components are coming from Microchip, Intersil, ST Micro, ADC and National Semiconductor. Part of the electronics shortage - plenty of the “big” chips like DRAM/NAND, CPUs/GPUs/SoCs but not enough of the supporting cast like RF/discrete power/IO/networking/timing/battery monitoring - those are all specialized ICs that don’t use the latest and greatest process tech but have an important supporting role.
Kongsley t1_j09d1jl wrote
Yes, thank you for understanding and providing a list of manufacturers that Microchip does belong on.
PasswordisP4ssword t1_j08frtd wrote
I don't think there are any N2 plants planned.
NutGoblin2 t1_j08l0wg wrote
Process node is just a marketing name
navigationallyaided t1_j087a65 wrote
IBM has been in Japan for a while - the ThinkPad was designed at their Japanese operations. Lenovo has since bought out those facilities. I think they have a silicon fab there and the PowerPC architecture they developed along with Motorola was used heavily by the Japanese automakers and in gaming consoles.
zenithtreader t1_j0871ff wrote
I mean in the article they said it is expected to be produced before the end of this decade. TSMC is already planning to mass produce 3nm next year in 2023, it is very likely they would have something akin to 2nm by 2025 or 2026, still years ahead.
The fact is Japan has not been competitive in cutting edge chip fab for more than a decade and this is not something you can simply catch up by throwing money at it.
kiwifuel t1_j08eoek wrote
Well, money buys all the things that drive progress. But time is another factor.
Yancy_Farnesworth t1_j09wcxt wrote
They're not starting from scratch. IBM demonstrated their 2nm process over a year and a half ago, they were the first to do so. They're at the stage where they're getting it from the lab to production.
IBM's not a newcomer to the fab business, they've just been mostly focused on producing their own chips for their own enterprise/datacenter equipment rather than mass market equipment. I'm betting that this partnership is IBM eyeing the fab-only business model; or looking to get themselves fabless like how AMD divested themselves of their fabs and spun off Global Foundries.
LummoxJR t1_j08t6r7 wrote
In the same part of the world regularly threatened by the same toltalitarian scumbags threatening Taiwan? Less neat.
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