It’s reported that TSMC’s new fab in Arizona, USA, is rushing to conduct the trial production of its first production line by mid-April and aims to complete all preparations for mass production by the end of this year. According to a report from the Economic Daily News, if everything goes smoothly, there is a chance that the original schedule for mass production in the first half of 2025 at the new US fab could be advanced to the end of 2024.

Regarding these rumors, TSMC stated on April 1st that the progress of the Arizona fab is proceeding according to plan, and for relevant information, please refer to the company’s official announcements.

TSMC is scheduled to hold an earnings call on April 18th, and ahead of the conference, positive news has emerged regarding the new US fab. It is anticipated that the related topics will also be the focus of attention on the day of the conference.

In the previous earnings call, TSMC announced its plan for the new US fab to commence mass production using the 4-nanometer process in the first half of 2025. Per Economic Daily News‘ report, the company believes that once this fab begins operations, it will be able to provide manufacturing quality and reliability on par with its Taiwan fabs in Arizona.

Industry sources cited by the report suggest that TSMC’s new fab in the United States is racing to complete the setup of its first production line by mid-April and commence trial production. Based on estimations of around 6.5 months from trial production to mass production, with an additional month for verification, there’s a chance that all preparations for mass production could be completed by the end of this year.

Taking stock of TSMC’s presence in the United States, the company currently operates an 8-inch fab in Camas, Washington, and has design centers in Austin, Texas, and San Jose, California. The new fab in Arizona will serve as TSMC’s second production base in the United States.

TSMC’s new fab construction in the United States faced labor shortage issues, which previously led to the announcement of a delay in the production schedule until 2025. However, TSMC has been making efforts to improve the problems encountered in the new fab and is seeking the maximum official subsidy support. Earlier report from Bloomberg indicated that TSMC’s new US fab could potentially secure over USD 5 billion in subsidies from the US government, but the relevant proposal has not been finalized.

TSMC announced the expansion of its investment in the new US fab in December 2022. Construction of the second phase of the Arizona fab has begun, with a total investment of approximately USD 40 billion for both phases. The first phase is expected to produce 4-nanometer chips, while the second phase will produce 3-nanometer chips.

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(Photo credit: TSMC)

As American tech giants depart from China and relocate their production of artificial intelligence (AI) server to Mexico, according to a report from UDN, some major AI players have urged their Taiwanese manufacturing partners to enhance their investments in production in Mexico.

Reportedly, Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Foxconn and Inventec are increasingly attentive to this trend, ramping up their investments in Mexico and leveraging the advantages provided by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that came into effect in 2020.

As per a report by The Wall Street Journal, the USMCA has already attracted billions of dollars in investment in the manufacturing sector, aimed at shifting production operations from China to Mexico.

James C. F. Huang, from the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, stated that the three North American countries aim to minimize imports from Asia as much as possible. Based on this consensus, Mexico is expected to become the most significant production base within the USMCA for the production of goods.

In February, Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturing services provider, announced a USD 27 million investment in purchasing land in the western state of Jalisco, Mexico. According to the report citing sources, this move is aimed at significantly expanding the company’s production of AI servers. Foxconn stated that it has invested approximately USD 690 million in Mexico over the past four years.

Sources cited by UDN also revealed that Foxconn’s Mexican facility manufactures AI servers for American tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA. However, the US companies have declined to confirm this claim.

Last year, the chairman of Mexico’s largest private organization, Francisco Cervantes, pointed out that increased investment by Taiwanese businesses in Mexico will significantly reshape the country’s industrial structure over the next decade.

The production volume of AI server is on the rise, and American companies are hoping to avoid repeating the history of smartphones. Many core components and parts of smartphones ended up being produced in China, particularly in factories operated by companies like Foxconn, for the assembly of iPhones.

Foxconn’s Chairman Young Liu previously indicated a strong demand for AI servers, with Foxconn securing new projects continuously.

Foxconn spokesperson James Wu noted that Foxconn Group commands over 40% market share in the server industry, particularly in the mid-to-high-end products related to AI servers. Foxconn closely collaborates with customers and aims to maintain its dominance, anticipating substantial contributions once the entire supply chain stabilizes.

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(Photo credit: Foxconn)

Samsung Electronics Co. has recently established a HBM team within its memory division, with the goal of enhancing yield during the development of the sixth-generation AI memory HBM4 and the AI accelerator Mach-1.

According to a report of the Korea Economic Daily (KED) citing industry sources on March 29th, Samsung’s HBM team is primarily responsible for the research, development, and sales of DRAM and NAND flash memory. Samsung’s Executive Vice President and Chief of DRAM Product and Technology, Hwang Sang-joon, will lead the new team. This marks the second team focused on HBM since Samsung initiated its HBM task force in January.

Per KED’s report, Samsung is stepping up its efforts in hopes of surpassing SK Hynix, the leader in the advanced HBM field. In 2019, Samsung dissolved its HBM team due to a mistaken belief that the market would not see significant growth.

Per a previous TrendForce press release, the three major original HBM manufacturers held market shares as follows in 2023: SK Hynix and Samsung were both around 46-49%, while Micron stood at roughly 4-6%.

To vie for dominance in the AI chip market, Samsung is pursuing a “two-track” strategy by concurrently developing two cutting-edge memory chips: HBM and Mach-1.

According to TrendForce’s report, SK Hynix led the way with its HBM3e validation in the first quarter, closely followed by Micron, which plans to start distributing its HBM3e products toward the end of the first quarter, in alignment with NVIDIA’s planned H200 deployment by the end of the second quarter.

Samsung, slightly behind in sample submissions, is expected to complete its HBM3e validation by the end of the first quarter, with shipments rolling out in the second quarter.

According to the same report from KED, Samsung is also gearing up to develop the next-generation accelerator, “Mach-2,” tailored for AI inference. According to Kyung on March 29th, Samsung must expedite the development of Mach-2 as there is strong interest from customers in this regard.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)

Japan and the EU are reportedly set to launch formal cooperation in the research and development of advanced materials, such as chips and electric vehicle batteries. According to a report from NIKKEI, this initiative aims to decrease their high reliance on suppliers from China. Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation and Research at the EU, revealed that the two parties will establish a collaborative framework in April.

As per the same report, Commissioner Ivanova stated during an interview that both Japan and the EU remain globally leading in advanced materials innovation. In 2020, the EU’s investment in this industry totaled EUR 19.8 billion, while Japan’s amounted to EUR 14 billion.

Under the framework tentatively named “Dialogue on Advanced Materials,” Japan and the EU plan to hold regular meetings to discuss collaboration proposals. Institutions engaged in advanced materials research from both sides will also participate. Commissioner Ivanova highlighted that the areas of cooperation include renewable energy, transportation, construction, and electronic materials. She also expressed hope for Japan and the EU to jointly develop international standards for advanced materials.

The report highlights a specific area of focus: the development of sodium-ion batteries, which are seen as the most promising next-generation power source for electric vehicles.

In recent years, the rapid growth of the global electric vehicle and energy storage markets has driven robust demand for lithium-ion batteries. As per TrendForce’s data, with further expansion expected in these sectors, the demand for lithium batteries is projected to continue growing, surpassing 3200GWh in global shipments by 2027.

Currently, China dominates the global lithium battery supply chain system, including battery metal refining, battery material processing, and battery manufacturing. Per TrendForce, more than 75% of lithium batteries worldwide are currently produced in China, making it the global leader in lithium battery manufacturing capacity.

In regard to China’s competitive advantage in the LiBs field today, it’s difficult for Japanese and South Korean companies to surpass. And it’s even more challenging for the US and Europe to catch up with China, due to the weak foundation of LiB industry locally. However, the emergence of inexhaustible and inexpensive sodium batteries may have offered a solution for the world to reduce its reliance on China.

Sodium-ion batteries do not require the use of rare metals controlled by China and have lower production costs compared to traditional batteries. The EU hopes to make progress in this area to meet the increasing demand brought about by the transition to electric vehicles.

Additionally, the EU aims to leverage Japan’s leading knowledge in metal nanoparticle technology, which can enhance solar energy conversion efficiency. Nanoparticle materials can also help smartphones save energy. In the future, the EU plans to allocate significant funding to advanced materials research, fully supporting related research and large-scale production.

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UMC has reportedly received a contract to manufacture crucial chips for Apple’s upcoming iPhone antenna modules. According to a report from Economic Daily News, the production volume is said to be in the tens of thousands.

Regarding this, UMC does not respond to specific customer and market rumors. It is reported that the orders from UMC this time come from Qorvo, a supplier for Apple’s power amplifier (PA).

Qorvo designs new iPhone antenna components for Apple, integrating new chips and supplying them with Qorvo power amplifiers. These new chips adopt UMC’s 3DIC technology and are manufactured by UMC.

Per the report citing industry sources, it has revealed that the chips Qorvo outsourced UMC this time are products of Anokiwave, a wireless communication chip factory that Qorvo recently merged with early this year. They will be integrated into the design of new iPhone antenna modules and are currently gradually increasing in volume.

As smartphones gradually integrate AI functionality, the sources cited in the same report also reveal that Apple is enhancing efficiency by adopting a new design for the next generation iPhone antenna module. They are incorporating products from Anokiwave, which was acquired by Qorvo earlier this year, to enhance iPhone reception capabilities.

With Qorvo leveraging Anokiwave’s products and partnering with UMC for manufacturing, UMC secures critical component chip orders for the iPhone once again. Previously, UMC also manufactured driver IC chips for Apple through NovaTek.

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(Photo credit: Apple)