The effect created by TSMC’s establishment of factories in Taiwan, Japan and other places is now being staged in the north of Phoenix, Arizona. The local housing market has become hotter, employment opportunities have increased significantly, and suppliers have also settled in. All these give Phoenix the opportunity to realize ” Desert Silicon Valley” ambitions.
Yalin Chen Dorman, a ten-year real estate agent in Phoenix, Arizona, recently discovered that her business north of the desert city has kept her busy, Nikkei Asia reports. She said: “After TSMC announced the opening of the factory in mid-2020, I immediately received many inquiries from customers, mainly from the Asian community living in California at first, and then from customers across the United States.”
About 70% of Dorman’s listings for sale last year have been sold, 70% of which to investors betting on the local semiconductor boom. She added that before TSMC set up a factory, people only came to the area when they were going to ski villages or to get close to nature.
Two years ago, this land of more than 400 hectares, regarding half of the Hsinchu Science Park, had no water or electricity. Now 9,000 construction workers are working hard to build TSMC’s first advanced process fab in the United States in 20 years.
TSMC’s establishment of factories has also brought regarding the effect of increasing real estate demand in Taiwan and Japan, and now the same phenomenon is happening in the United States, highlighting the ferment of the state-led reconstruction of semiconductor policies in the United States.
The first phase of TSMC’s $40 billion plant plan is scheduled to start manufacturing 4-nanometer chips in 2024, and the second phase is to produce 3-nanometer chips by 2026.
Huang Renxun, CEO of Nvidia, said at TSMC’s move-in ceremony on December 6: “This is a technological miracle rising from the desert. Our most advanced chips are all built in TSMC’s most advanced fabs. , I sincerely hope that this practice will continue.”
The real estate industry is booming, because in addition to funding, TSMC also brings in engineers to work here: 600 “seed” engineers sent from Taiwan to the United States will work in Phoenix for at least three years until 2025. They live in the so-called “Taiwan Ji Village” is usually a small community under construction, offering one- to three-bedroom apartments for rent, with resort-style swimming pools and gyms.
TSMC suppliers have also rushed to the desert. For example, Sunlit Chemical, a supplier of hydrofluoric acid, and LCY Chemical, a manufacturer of electronic grade isopropanol, have already settled in to meet local needs.
Bertrand Lcy, CEO of Entegris, a supplier of TSMC and a US chip material manufacturer, said that he is considering increasing production capacity in the United States and Asia. No location in the United States was selected.
According to TSMC estimates, the plan to set up a plant in Arizona will create at least 4,500 direct jobs and 10,000 supply chain jobs.
According to the latest data from the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the CHIPS Act introduced by Washington has brought a lot of investment across the United States, and the Greater Phoenix area is by far the biggest beneficiary. Intel is also spending $20 billion to expand its fab in Chandler, the state.
“There are 100,000 semiconductor-related jobs in Arizona and counting. TSMC spurs growth north of Phoenix,” said Chris Camacho, chairman of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
But capital and an optimistic atmosphere cannot guarantee success. TSMC also tried to set up a factory in the United States in 1980, but the dream did not come true. The founder Zhang Zhongmou even described the situation that year as a “nightmare”. The cost, cultural shock, and difficulty in hiring were all factors. challenge.
TSMC did not underestimate the challenges ahead this time. A TSMC employee told Nikkei Asia: “For us, the success of the new factory is really unknown. As the founder said, there is still a lot of hard work ahead. This It’s the trailblazers — we don’t know where this adventure will take us.”
