TSMC Arizona: 4nm chip production begins in the United States

In the United States, 4 nanometers (1 nanometer is one billionth) of semiconductors have begun to be produced. It is at Taiwan TSMC's Arizona foundry plant in the United States.

In an interview with Reuters on the 11th (local time), U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Lemondo reported TSMC's mass production of 4-nano chips, saying, "For the first time in U.S. history, we are producing 4-nano chips on U.S. soil." "American workers are producing advanced 4-nanometer chips at the same level of yield and quality as Taiwan," he said. "Production has begun in recent weeks."

"This is a great achievement, something that has never been done before and that many people thought was impossible," Secretary Lemondo said. "This will mark a milestone in the Biden administration's semiconductor efforts."

Currently, the most advanced foundry commercial technology is the 3-nano process, and TSMC and Samsung Electronics are mass-producing 3-nano products in Taiwan and Korea, respectively.

The Biden administration has been encouraging global semiconductor companies to build factories in the United States by providing huge subsidies, and confirmed $6.6 billion in semiconductor subsidies to TSMC in November last year.

In April, TSMC announced plans to expand its investment in the U.S. to $65 billion and build a third fab (semiconductor production plant) in Arizona by 2030 that will utilize a 2-nanometer process.

Secretary Lemondo said this convinced the Commerce Department to expand its plans in the U.S. by persuading TSMC.

"This didn't happen on its own," he said. "We had to persuade TSMC to want to expand."