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I find it ironic that TSMC is building their shiny new 1100 acre fab in Arizona of all places [1], even as one of their main water sources is drying up [2]. You
by matheweis 5y ago
I find it ironic that TSMC is building their shiny new 1100 acre fab in Arizona of all places [1], even as one of their main water sources is drying up [2]. You’d think someone in charge is thinking about these things.
[1] https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2021/03/02/taiwan-semiconductor-phoenix-plant-35-billion.html https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2021/03/02/taiwan-s...
[2] https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/04/06/colorado-river-drought-deepens-arizona-prepares-water-cutbacks/4808587001/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environme...
- bsder 5y agoArizona has fab construction expertise, engineers and cheap workers. You have to put your new fab someplace useful or you have to import everybody. So, that cuts the number of places to a handful in the US. Texas, because TI, AMD, NXP nee Freescale nee Motorola. Idaho, because Micron. Oregon, because Intel. Arizona, because Intel and NXP. New York, because IBM. California, because everybody. If you're not doing massive R&D at the fab, you want cheap workers more than you want location to universities. That knocks out California and New York. As we just found out, Texas has weather so maybe not a great place for a 24/7 fab. Can you imagine TSMC personnel dealing with winter? So, probably not Idaho. So, Oregon or Arizona. I suspect Oregon is more expensive than Arizona in the places you want to put a fab.
- totalZero 5y agoThere's also the consideration of energy costs, as well as freight corridor proximity. AZ/NM is a sweet spot for most of these factors.