TSMC to build second Japan chip factory, raising investment to $20B

Re:TSMC to build second Japan chip factory, raising investme... by sofixa on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @10:35AM (#39289798)

> consumer electronics, from rice cookers to door bells

I doubt rice cookers and toasters are using the latest chips for TSMC. E.g. the ESP32 microcontrollers are manufactured by TSMC on 40nm, and there are a bunch of different companies that have similarly sized/powerful microcontrollers being manufactured (e.g. STMicro).

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Re:TSMC to build second Japan chip factory, raising investme... by makeitdouble on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @11:03AM (#39290158)

If I get your point, the question would why have TSMC make these low end cheaper chip in Japan when they abund on the market ?

The whole effort of bringing TSMC factories to Japan was triggered by the shortage a few years ago, when I think a Toyota factories had to slow down as they couldn't get enough chips to meet the production goals.

They'll probably rely on TSMC to make the deal work even if external competitors offer better prices or availability in the short term.

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Re:TSMC to build second Japan chip factory, raising investme... by obmelvin on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @04:07PM (#39294334)

Isn't this about 6 and 7mm nodes? Aren't those still pretty good nodes with lower costs than the cutting edge (3nm and lower)?

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Re:TSMC to build second Japan chip factory, raising investme... by makeitdouble on Wednesday February 07, 2024 @05:32PM (#39295213)

It's planned to produce from 40nm down to 6~7nm. Now, the 6~7nm might end as an empty promise, if TSMC wants to keep more advantage at home.

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