TSMC recently held a topping-out ceremony for its Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, to celebrate the completion of the construction, which progressed at breakneck speeds from March 2021 to July 2022. With the building ready, it is time for TSMC to install supplementary equipment and then move in semiconductor production tools.
"Great progress continues on our 5nm semiconductor fab — Fab 21 — in Phoenix, Arizona," reads a LinkedIn post from TSMC. "We recently celebrated placing the last beam — also known in the construction industry as a 'topping' milestone — in Fab 21's building with our local partners. Over 4,000 attendees were on hand to enjoy this important moment including our own employees and partners."
They continue to not be messing around at the TSMC fab site in Phoenix. Less than half a year later. https://t.co/bdGqWDpCFC pic.twitter.com/Ov5GVlumprJune 11, 2022
TSMC's Fab 21 is expected to start production in early 2024. Its initial capacity will be 20,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM) on TSMC's N5 (5nm-class) nodes. Meanwhile, the foundry's 1,100-acre site will be able to host additional phases of the fab, bringing the manufacturing capacity of the campus to around 100,000 wafers if there is enough demand for chips produced by the company. The cost of the current phase is estimated to be between $10 billion and $12 billion.
"#TSMCArizona is on time and on track to bring the most advanced leading-edge semiconductor technology to the U.S.," the post continues. "We are deeply grateful to our partners and look forward to more successful milestones in Arizona."
