From Tom's Hardware: An official from the Taiwanese government said at a news conference that the country would deploy a special team to protect TSMC's technologies and trade secrets as the foundry is expanding to the United States. Sources close to the company reportedly said that the company's fabs in the USA will always be one generation behind those in Taiwan reports DigiTimes.
The Taiwanese government will deploy a team to monitor TSMC's key technologies, as they are important parts of the nation's interest, said Tsung-Tsong Wu, the Minister of Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), according to the report.
It is unclear how this team will operate and whether Taiwan will require TSMC deploy enhanced security measures or even attempt to limit export of certain process technologies or knowhow to the U.S. Yet the minister made it clear that the government wants Taiwan to stay TSMC's stronghold and the global center of contract chip production.
In fact, TSMC itself plans to keep its most advanced production technologies in Taiwan. The company's Fab 21 in Arizona will produce chips using TSMC's N5 (5 nm-class) fabrication processes when it comes online in early 2024. By that time TSMC's manufacturing facility at the Southern Taiwan Science Park near Tainan will be mass producing chips on TSMC's N3 (3 nm-class) manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, when the second — N3-capable — phase of Fab 21 starts operations by 2026, TSMC's fabs in Taiwan will make chips on its N2 node.
View: Full Article
