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Credit: TSMC
A few weeks after a Taiwanese minister said that it is illegal for TSMC to export its leading technology—such as N2 (2nm-class)—from Taiwan to foreign factories, another minister said that after N2 entered mass production in the second half. of 2025, discussions about moving the node to friendly democratic countries may take place, reports the Economic Daily (as observed by Dan Nystedt). But, TSMC only plans to start producing 2nm-class chips in America by the end of the decade.
According to the company’s roadmap, TSMC’s N2 manufacturing process is expected to enter mass production at the end of 2025. At that time, discussions may take place about whether the 2nm process should be extended to other friendly democratic countries, said Cheng-Wen Wu, National. Science and Technology Council (NTSC) Minister. This news comes after JW Kuo, Minister of Economic Affairs, reminded us that TSMC cannot transfer its leading technology to other countries due to Taiwanese laws. As a result, the best production node TSMC can use in the US in 2025 – 2026 will be N3 (3nm-class process technology).
Based on TSMC’s current plan for its Fab 21 (which is in line with funding under the CHIPS Act), the first phase of this facility is set to start the production of chips at the N4 and N5 nodes in the first half of 2025, the second phase is expected. there are chips using N3 technology in 2028, and the third part is expected to make 2nm-class chips at the end of the decade. However, concerns are growing that TSMC may be forced to transfer leading-edge 2nm-class process technology to its US fabric ahead of schedule.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump criticized the administration of the Biden CHIPS and Science Act and said that tariffs would be a better incentive for chip manufacturers to build factories in the US than grants, loan guarantees, and tax credits. If he implements such tariffs, it will force TSMC to move some of its advanced facilities to its Arizona location. However, considering the shortage of textile materials, it is not known whether the company can prepare its textiles ahead of schedule.
There are two things to remember about TSMC’s leading-edge manufacturing process and why it will remain a Taiwanese facility, said analyst Dan Nystedt. The main reason why TSMC’s high-end technologies stay in Taiwan is because they are made in Taiwan and then upgraded in Taiwan. With the presence of an R&D team, it is easy to scale up mass production and develop large-scale production technology. That said, it is unlikely that TSMC’s leading-edge node will go into mass production simultaneously in Taiwan and elsewhere in the near future.