It’s very impressive that they got such a modern process up and running in such a relatively short period of time. I understand the Arizona location is relatively new.
Yeah, they’re essentially doing trials where Arizona fab provides small amounts of sillicon that’s being validated against what Taiwan fab does. While it was planned for 2024 I’m guessing everyone thought it would be delayed. It’s quite a big win for US, they’re on track to secure domestic supply of fairly modern chips in case shit hits the fan in Taiwan.
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Also, if interested, check out this documentary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Factory. Has a lot of interesting crosstalk between Chinese/American views on work and business.
Such a sad documentary, especially the self sabotage union votes.
I know. I was devastated when I first watched it, because I was so sure it was going to pass…
Thanks, Biden! And the American taxpayer!
Maybe, but Intel operates there so the labour pool is probably quite skilled already. Perhaps good supply chains too.
This is HORRIBLE! I’m a Patriotic Republican and don’t know why it’s Horrible Yet but Biden did it so it’s BAD!!
He did it to support the rich libtards! Not the poor working Republicans can no longer afford guns to stop the immigrants. And he hates Tiaywan !
/S
We shouldn’t be making water and energy intensive manufacturing in a hot desert.
That’s great but, honest question: why?
E: LOL downvotes for asking a question. Never change Lemmy.
Because the U.S. government gave them $6.6 billion to do it under the CHIPS Act: https://www.reuters.com/technology/tsmc-wins-66-bln-us-subsidy-arizona-chip-production-2024-04-08/
With TSMC, it’s insurance against China invading Taiwan but Intel (and probably everyone else) got a load of subsidies too. After the chip shortage during the pandemic and Russia invading Ukraine, chip production became a national security issue.
Mystery solved, I suppose!
From a business perspective: more control over the manufacturing process and less risk of getting hit by tariffs
Less risk of tariffs on China, less risk of supply chain disruptions like with the pandemic, takes advantage of incentives from the US government, and is something that is cool to advertise.
How does being in the US give you more control over manufacturing?
Tariffs are not new.
Tariffs change. Especially when Trump or another nutcase is in office.
Tariffs in general aren’t new, but Trump’s tariffs were applied haphazardly and poorly determined because he doesn’t understand what they are. Avoiding that uncertainty entirely is a good idea.
Because it’s in the US?
Yeah I got that when I put “in the US” in the comment you replied to.
It answers the question for you.
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Nice way to be rude.
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Not about being in the us specifically. But about keeping your manufacturing near your entire supply chain.
But the uncertainty of what will come soon for tariffs is
Multiple sources of production.
We learned during concentrating all of your production in one small country wasn’t a good idea. Plus having multiple sources has always been suggested in case anything goes wrong with one company you can still have some production.
Sure but there are other countries that also have cheaper manufacturing rates.
Those countries probably didn’t pay 5.5 billion dollars for TSMC to build a new facility in their country.
FUCK
E: $6.6B, according to NYT
These facilities are expensive, like 20-30B for the big ones. If you’re curious youtube has some good long videos on how these places work. As far as I’ve checked all the gov grants given to companies as incentives (whether chips or energy or other infrastructure projects) only partially cover the costs of construction.
And are susceptible to interference. Samsung is also building huge manufacturing infrastructure in the US.
So now it can be subject to US interference. Geopolitics folks.
But then US interference most directly affects US jobs and customers. That’s a much better er situation.
Think of car manufacturers that have done this for decades. They may have a global supply chain, heading mostly back to their home country, but they also have worldwide plants near their customers. Thanks partly to similar incentives and tariffs, my Honda was assembled in, I think, Kentucky, and was as us-manufactured as any us brand, meaning us jobs, us manufacturing, partial us supply chain. The result has been almost entirely good.
Apple wants to cut down on counterfeiting. The US wants to prevent supply chain issues and reduce reliance on foreign chip production. The wiki article on the CHIPS Act is a pretty good overview: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act
Uhh. Who’s counterfeiting a cpu that only basically 2 factories in the world can make? Functional fakes are a thing for some really basic chips but an apple arm cpu seems like a little much.
Perhaps unauthorized is a better word than counterfeit. The manufacturing process for CPUs often yields less than ideal chips. Perhaps they don’t hit the clock speed they’re supposed to, or maybe they consume too much power. Those chips are supposed to be discarded, but they often find their way to the black market. Sometimes those chips aren’t even failures. If a fab overproduces, they’re not just going to give Apple the extra chips. These are the things Apple worries about, and they view it as far less likely to happen if those chips are made in the US.
I should also point out that the CPU isn’t the only chip that TSMC makes for Apple. Apple wants to make sure they’re getting a cut of every replacement part that gets sold. You can’t even swap screens on two brand new iPhones without Apple giving you a hard time.
and they view it as far less likely to happen if those chips are made in the US.
How naive.
Yeah that’s been my least favourite experience with Lemmy.
Many replies are hostile and highly opinionated.
I don’t have an answer for your question but it was a good question and it made me curious.
I’m in favour of domestic production but I would always want more information about it.
We’ve spent the last few decades outsourcing key industries, where US no longer has as much manufacturing and we’re way too dependent on other countries. It took supply chain disruptions from COViD to realize how much of a bad idea that was.
We’re finally trying to recapture some of those key jobs, industries, supply chains, dependencies, starting with chips and renewable energy. THANKS, BIDEN! this is what will make America great again
more domestic production is great
Bit by bit, Taiwan will be slowly sold off to China once they no longer hold the last thing that made them worthy of Western protection. Of course, there will be some harsh words of condemnation, but that’s it. That’s my theory. Sad but true.
That’s the reason I’m rooting for everyone, including China, to do well with domestic chipmaking. Makes everyone have little less reason to try this modern day mutually assured destruction.
China: “this guys right, we are almost close to be our own chip manufacture and owning Taiwan.”
That would be par for the course of my life decisions.
Anybody know if this has anything to do with Biden’s Chips and Sciences program?
Yes. So far, the CHIPS Act has resulted in $6.6b in direct funding and an additional $5b in available loans for the AZ facility.
Cool. Thanks for the intel.
You mean the TSMC.
I don’t know what TSMC is. Figured it was a company.
Not sure if you’re serious, but they were making a joke because Intel, who makes chips, is a competitor to TMSC the chip manufacturer from the article.
So they played on that relationship by treating the word Intel in your “thanks for the Intel” comment as meaning the company.
No I meant intel, not Intel. Like 411. It was just coincidental.
Do they have bombs in them?
US, not israel.
Where will they keep the child laborers?
That was Foxcon, not TSMC. And all of us have a LOT of shit in our homes made by Foxcon.
Not that it justifies the shit Foxcon did. Just saying that Apple got a lot of flack, even though a lot of other companies should be scrutinized for their manufacturing contractor choices. Microsoft, Sony, etc.
I heard child labour was legal in the US again? Or is this not in Arizona?
N00b question. Do these chips get transferred from USA to India/Vietnam for assembly and then back again to all over the world for shipping?
They may. But logistically I can’t see it being a problem. Each CPU is like 10mmx10mmx1mm. You could fit a TON in a 1m^3 box.
Ideally 100,000 if my math is correct. Just be careful as there is no packing material except for the box itself.
Hmm. Perhaps we’d come to a point where these facilities are on all continents to reduce ecological impact, but I guess Apple isn’t that green.
