'What We're Creating is a City': An Insightful Tour Inside TSMC's Arizona Chipmaking Facility
A detailed look inside TSMC's vast new chip manufacturing facility in Arizona, exploring its scale and technology.
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TSMC Arizona: A Journey of Innovation and Collaboration
TSMC offers a promotional video on YouTube showcasing the efforts behind the construction and operation of its new facility, TSMC Arizona. This facility, located outside Phoenix, is expansive, featuring a solar panel facade and interiors that echo a science fiction atmosphere.
“What we’re creating is a city,” narrates the video, emphasizing the magnitude of the project.
Below the phrase, the translation reads: “We are building a city.”
With 3,000 engineers and technicians from various parts of the world, this undertaking aims to manufacture some of the most advanced chips directly in the USA
The Facility
The scale is not just impressive; much of the facility resembles something out of a sci-fi film. Workers in cleanroom suits, known as ‘bunny suits’, maintain the production line, while robotic modules traverse the ceilings on overhead lines, referred to as the ‘silver highway’.
The Advanced Material Handling System showcases its capability to transport wafers throughout the extensive facility. These machines are state-of-the-art, with intricate processes that involve plasma and molecular rearrangements, creating transistors that are significantly smaller than a human hair.
Despite the progress, water use is a pressing concern given the facility’s location in one of the driest regions in the U.S. TSMC plans to recycle and reclaim up to 90% of its water usage through an in-progress reclamation plant, addressing environmental critiques regarding its water consumption.
The Arizona fab is not just a standalone venture; TSMC is planning further expansions that may include additional fabrication plants and a development center as part of a larger $100 billion investment initiative aimed at bolstering U.S. chip manufacturing.
As we enter this new chapter of chip production in the U.S., the ongoing contribution of TSMC is vital to fulfilling the global demand for advanced semiconductors.
