Bloomberg: TSMC to make 4nm chips in US – Computer – News

A new TSMC chip factory to be built in Arizona will also produce chips using ‘4nm’ processes. Bloomberg reports this based on internal sources. TSMC has previously only confirmed making ‘5nm’ chips at a US factory. Production should begin there in 2024.

TSMC will present concrete plans for its US chip factory next Tuesday. Bloomberg writes. Later that day, President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will visit Phoenix, where the factory is located, for a ceremony. TSMC will re-commit among others A second factory for 3nm chips Built in Arizona.

According to Bloomberg, the Taiwanese chipmaker recently decided to start production on its 4nm processes in addition to production of ‘normal’ 5nm chips. The N4 series is a further development of TSMC’s previous 5nm chips. N4 processes offer better performance and higher transistor density. TSMC may have made the decision after lobbying from American customers who wanted to manufacture the chips at the new factory. Apple, among others, already uses N4 for its A16-soc in the iPhone 14 Pro series. Nvidia also uses DSMC’s 4nm processes for its GeForce RTX 40 series and H100 data center GPUs.

Production at TSMC’s new US chip factory is set to begin in 2024. The company previously said it planned to produce 20,000 wafers per month at the factory, though sources told Bloomberg that number could increase. The factory is part of the US ambition to become less dependent on Asian countries for chip production. This is due to rising geopolitical tensions, for example between Taiwan and China. The country introduces for it The CHIPS Act has billions of dollars in support of the CHIP industry. The European Union does the same.