TSMC, which originally did not plan to invest in building factories in the United States, has continued to increase investment under pressure from the United States in recent years. The latest commitment is US$165 billion, and the United States has recently hinted that it needs to increase to more than US$200 billion. For TSMC, it not only requires huge investments in the United States, but also transfers advanced processes to American factories. The first phase of the factory was previously planned to produce 5nm chips, but it has been converted to 4nm processes after its completion at the end of last year.
The second phase of the factory under construction is expected to produce 3nm technology.In the subsequent investment plan, chips from 2nm to 1.4nm processes are gradually transferred to the United States for production.
Isn't TSMC afraid of technology leaks when it actively transfers production capacity to the United States? This is also one of the issues that the outside world is most concerned about. TSMC has repeatedly expressed its position to appease doubts, saying that the most advanced technology will still be produced at the headquarters base.
Now, some competent authorities have come out to express their views, saying that key technologies will be controlled, and the participants will also be included in it.TSMC will advance to the 1.4nm process in the future and needs to meet N-2 requirements before going overseas.
N-2 means that the technology produced in overseas bases must be two generations behind TSMC's local production before it can be transferred out. For example, TSMC's current most advanced mass production technology is 2nm (N2), so the overseas production is 5nm level (N5), with a 3nm process in between, which is two generations behind.
In the future, after TSMC produces the 1.4nm (A14) process, the 2nm process will be produced in the United States, separated by the 1.6nm process (A16).
