Chipmaker TSMC Reveals Plans To Manufacture 2nm Chips, After Intel's Announcement.
Since the start of the times, humans have been inventing, designing, and innovating things that can assist them in any slightest way possible. And as we've evolved and progress, we're still are pushing the boundaries to achieve milestones that can help us make the impossible, possible. You can observe these efforts in every aspect of life, whether it be medical, transport, or science. All of which, are based on technological advancements.
Computers, and technology in general, are some of the most researched fields in the world. And every now and then we hear researchers making breakthroughs in this field.
Such is this week, when the world's biggest semiconductor company, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Apple’s sole supplier of chips, announced that they will be able to manufacture 2 nano-meter chips by 2024 after the permission is granted by the Taiwanese government. A chip consists of resistors, capacitors, and millions of transistors. That is why TSMC has announced that once built, the 2 nm manufacturing plant will be the world’s most complicated yet advanced manufacturing plant.
TSMC has planned to start construction for the 2nm chips on the 5 acres of land bought in Hsinchu, Taiwan by 2022, and by 2023, TSMC has planned to begin installing production equipment. TSMC has laid down its current roadmap which includes manufacturing of more efficient 5nm, 4nm, and 3nm chips in the upcoming years. Apple has already booked with TSMC for these chips which might be pre-installed in iPhones in the next 2-3 years.
However, this news came with a great shock to their competitors. TSMC’s announcement came 1 day after Intel announced their new plans. Intel told Reuters they are soon planning to build chips for Qualcomm and Amazon and by 2025, they will be leading in chip manufacturing from their competitor, TSMC. This news means Intel’s plans to dominate would be suspended further, for a few more years.
Taiwan is currently facing water shortages due to the ongoing, one of the worst droughts in islands history, and the new chip producer is expected to be using 98,000 tons of water, daily. Once built. However, Taiwan’s Environmental Review Committee has cleared the company for construction after their plans to use recycled water to meet environmental targets.
TSMC is now planning to expand the company globally and is expected to be announcing the construction of new factories in Japan and Germany. According to Reuters, TSMC is also looking forward to building more plants in the US to meet their overseas demands. However, this is a little concerning for the Taiwanese government as they don’t want to weaken their strategic importance.
“Semiconductor is one of the most crucial industries to Taiwan’s economic growth.”, said an economist.
To avoid any geopolitical conflicts, the government is keen to assist TSMC in expanding and developing advanced technology for the world. However, they want TSMC to keep their most advanced manufacturing domestic, rather than making them global too.
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