From ExtremeTech: In a move that analysts are saying is quite rare, TSMC said it’ll be holding a celebratory ceremony on Dec. 29 at its Taiwan HQ. The company will be announcing it’s begun mass production of its highly anticipated 3nm process, known as FinFlex. Though it was expected TSMC would begin 3nm production around this time, it’s unusual for the company to hold an event to celebrate the achievement. The reason it’s crowing about it, some analysts say, is to pacify critics in China who have berated the company for its plans to begin producing advanced nodes in the United States. The move by TSMC seems to be to assure them it will always build its most advanced products in Taiwan.
News of the ceremony comes from Focus Taiwan via 9to5mac. It says the company will place the final beam on a newly expanded fab in the ceremony. This process is known as “topping out” and means the facility is ready to begin high-volume production. The Taiwan source says the company currently produces 5nm silicon at this site, which is dubbed Fab 18. It could theoretically be the fab that makes chips for AMD, Nvidia, and Apple. TSMC recently held a similarly high-profile event at its Arizona fab, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Joe Biden in attendance, where the company announced it’ll begin producing 4nm chips in Arizona in 2024. It’ll eventually begin 3nm production in America too, but not for a few years.
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