TSMC's 7 nm global capacity right now is just over 100k wafers/mo. This represents 20% of their global capacity, not "small" or "mini".
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Supplier TSMC to Open Advanced Chip Factory in Arizona
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
TSMC's 7 nm global capacity right now is just over 100k wafers/mo. This represents 20% of their global capacity, not "small" or "mini".
Also, fabs have to run at close to full capacity or they don't run well. Entire design divisions exist at some fab companies largely to make sure jobs exist to run in the fab. (in addition to making money, of course.)
My hunch (I'm on the design side, not the manufacturing side) is that it's better to start off smaller, and keep it fully occupied, than to have a large plant with lines idling.
Also: 5nm requires EUV, and EUV is a huge pain - it totally turns photolithography upside-down. It's great that we have at least one "foundry model, anyone can use it" plant that does it. (I know Intel, and presume Micron, are spinning up their own EUV capabilities.)
Anandtech said it better.
GigaFab is a specific term TSMC uses, MegaFab was once used by other ( If I remember correctly it was GF ) to describe theirs which has larger than 20K Wafer capacity. That is why it is ( or should ) described as mini or small by TSMC's book.
Also note 5nm in 2024 will be a mainstream node. While the current 7nm capacity is a leading edge node.
There's no reality TV show, just politics. I routinely check CNN and MSNBC's websites, and it's amazing how much news they don't cover because it's politically inconvenient, or cover inaccurately. The "reality TV" show thing is something often repeated by these news people for political gain. It's an irrelevant argument, and means nothing. People used to say all sorts of similarly irrelevant things about Obama and Michelle, but I'd assume you were against that because you approved of Obama politically. Indeed, politics has a way of making fools out of people.
To be clear: I oppose both. There is no reality TV show happening, and whether Obama was born here or not, really doesn't matter to a reasonable person (there are many other examples of such political nonsense). Politics is silly.
Look at all the liberal crybabies getting triggered by manufacturing coming to the USA. Lol, they are more obsessed with trump than his supporters!
Yes, they don't really provide "jobs" tho. Engineers never complained about not having jobs. Manufacturing jobs means whatever a high school graduate or a vocational community college graduate can do.
In a semiconductor plant, you don't have that sort of demographics. You will either have Engineers or Engineering Scientists, all holding Bachelor or PhDs.
You won't even have too many genitors working there, because all the rooms are air-gapped.
You will have lots of lawyers and C-level executives, but those are not "jobs" by Trump's definition.
Most STEM-educated people and most people with advanced degrees don't vote for Trump.
Nice to finally see someone commit to building a semiconductor plant in the U.S.... something which the Obama Administration had been pushing for for a long time.
Obama touts high tech, business investment at Intel in Oregon
President Obama visited Intel Corp.'s large manufacturing plant in Oregon Friday. He named Intel CEO Paul Otellini – who's been critical of the administration's economic policies – to the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.www.csmonitor.com
Yes, nice to have an administration that can actually get it done. Results count!
LOL. So much wrong in your post, aside from your political statements, but just for starters, a chip manufacturing plant will employ thousands, most of which are manufacturing and engineering jobs, only a tiny number of legal and executive level folks as they aren't needed. They also don't need a bunch of PhD's. Those are in their research facilities. For comparison purposes, Samsung's chip manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, a much smaller facility than this will be, employs about 3000 people, again mostly manufacturing (great blue collar) and engineering employees.
I wasn’t being literal about a reality show. My point is that the presidency is all about ratings just like The Apprentice for Trump. That’s no coincidence. Of course the media is part of it as well as the audience but reality tv isn’t good or bad. It’s just cheap entertainment for lazy viewers much like politics.
[automerge]1589610839[/automerge]
Unfiltered is great but that also includes a lot of lies. In case you didn’t notice, the major news networks and newspapers fall to under FCC and journalist scrutiny to filter out blatant lies so they are actually accountable for things they say unlike Twitter. No such thing in social media. Enjoy your unfiltered lies.
Oh dear God, where to start....
"Yes, they don't really provide "jobs" tho." -> not only will this produce the jobs at the plant, but it will have a jobs multiplier effect of at least 3 in terms of additional jobs in the community: advanced factories need local technical services and goods, the workers need personal goods and services, etc.
"Engineers never complained about not having jobs." -> You don't know any engineers affected by H1-B visa flooding of their industry, or by offshoring their job to an overseas contract firm. It has impacted me and my US-born or US-naturalized citizen friends - OF ALL RACES - here in the Silicon Valley horribly. Most have left, leaving this place very un-American indeed.
"Manufacturing jobs means whatever a high school graduate or a vocational community college graduate can do." -> No, it means a job where physical items are manufactured.
"In a semiconductor plant, you don't have that sort of demographics. You will either have Engineers or Engineering Scientists, all holding Bachelor or PhDs." -> No, it is a mix. Even in an R&D facility.
"You will have lots of lawyers and C-level executives, but those are not "jobs" by Trump's definition." -> HUH?!? FAKE NEWS.
"Most STEM-educated people and most people with advanced degrees don't vote for Trump." -> It is true that many people who've spent a lot of time in post-grad programs leave school very liberal, as colleges these days are very much liberal-indoctrination factories. But I can tell you, based on many first-hand conversations, that a lot of people in the Silicon Valley - the grunts in the front lines - are a lot more favorable to Trump these days. This goes up 10X since many liberal governments have outed their true nut-bag control-freak nature during this corona-virus episode.
I agree with your two other respondents. You are way off base.
"Yes, they don't really provide "jobs" tho. Engineers never complained about not having jobs. Manufacturing jobs means whatever a high school graduate or a vocational community college graduate can do."
I am a semiconductor manufacturing engineer. I was pretty pissed when I got laid off in 2009. We like to have jobs.
"In a semiconductor plant, you don't have that sort of demographics. You will either have Engineers or Engineering Scientists, all holding Bachelor or PhDs."
In my factory, we are a bit behind the cutting edge of semiconductor manufacturing, because we build sensors. We have direct labor operators with high school degrees and GEDs. We have Associates Degrees working as techs (albeit few of those). We have bachelors' degrees as engineers. You clearly don't have a clue.
"You won't even have too many genitors working there, because all the rooms are air-gapped."
Yes, we have janitors. Cleanrooms need to be clean.
"You will have lots of lawyers and C-level executives, but those are not "jobs" by Trump's definition."
At least in our case, we have relatively few C's and VPs, but that is because we are at the bottom of the supply chain, making wafers. The Big C's are more in the post-package business for us, and they don't have a clue how semi actually works.
"Most STEM-educated people and most people with advanced degrees don't vote for Trump."
I can't speak for others, but I find that my colleagues are pretty conservative, and the business lines are all about squeezing costs and increasing margins. I would bet that a bunch of our Big Cs *would* vote for Trump.
I will not name my company, of course, because, as I indicated above, I kinda like having a job.
I have two STEM degrees and I agree with Trump's economic policies over those of the democrats. Whoever made that statement is clueless.