3 ms·

Why are American fabs built in Arizona? What's so special about AZ?

josaka 2y ago
I suspect it's, in part, because humidity is low. The fab needs to tightly control humidity and temperature. Pulling water from air is energy intensive. Facilities team in the fab I used to work in said their most energy intensive days where the most humid days.
- bigtimesink 2y ago
  Humidity in Taiwan can be very high.
  - mort96 2y ago
    And I'm betting that combatting that humidity is a significant cost for TSMC.
sct202 2y ago
Motorola put a bunch of their early semiconductor facilities there in the 1950s so there has been a long history of the industry there along with relevant suppliers and trained work force. Microchip Technology, Amkor, Intel, First Solar continued the trend in the 70s/80s so there's a lot of related industry built up over the decades.
muricula 2y ago
Tax breaks and politics. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/technology/arizona-chips-act-semiconductor.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/technology/arizona-chips-...
UberFly 2y ago
Main reasons are a stable geology and climate, access to reliable water via the salt river project that was designated for industrial use, and the historical semiconductor presence that is already in the area. The local universities also have a strong focus on tech.
- manquer 2y ago
  Taiwan is a humid island on the ring of fire , is any of the environmental factors actually all that important?
  - SpecialistK 2y ago
    You can't choose where you're from, but you can choose where you go afterwards.
    - manquer 2y ago
      Arizona seems a particularly bad place to choose freely. Fabs consume enormous quantities of water and Arizona (and the sw) are already in precarious position, and not even a semi viable theoretical option like desalination possible in the future
      - SpecialistK 2y ago
        There must be something Intel, TSMC, and NXP (fmr. Motorola) saw in the area to build several fabs there.
        inemesitaffia 2y ago
        The water is recycled
        manquer 2y ago
        >water is recycled A sweeping statement, like plastic is recycled. It is more complex than that. It is energy intensive (and expensive) to recycle both low purity and ultra pure water (UPW) used and for some fabs it is just 40% [1] and there is no consistent globally adopted solution, most of the tech used is still evolving and not implemented everywhere. [1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/fabs-cut-back-water-use https://spectrum.ieee.org/fabs-cut-back-water-use
        2y ago

I suspect it's, in part, because humidity is low. The fab needs to tightly control humidity and temperature. Pulling water from air is energy intensive. Facilities team in the fab I used to work in said their most energy intensive days where the most humid days.

bigtimesink 2y ago
Humidity in Taiwan can be very high.
- mort96 2y ago
  And I'm betting that combatting that humidity is a significant cost for TSMC.

sct202 2y ago

Motorola put a bunch of their early semiconductor facilities there in the 1950s so there has been a long history of the industry there along with relevant suppliers and trained work force. Microchip Technology, Amkor, Intel, First Solar continued the trend in the 70s/80s so there's a lot of related industry built up over the decades.

muricula 2y ago

Tax breaks and politics. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/technology/arizona-chips-act-semiconductor.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/technology/arizona-chips-...

UberFly 2y ago

Main reasons are a stable geology and climate, access to reliable water via the salt river project that was designated for industrial use, and the historical semiconductor presence that is already in the area. The local universities also have a strong focus on tech.

manquer 2y ago
Taiwan is a humid island on the ring of fire , is any of the environmental factors actually all that important?
- SpecialistK 2y ago
  You can't choose where you're from, but you can choose where you go afterwards.
  - manquer 2y ago
    Arizona seems a particularly bad place to choose freely. Fabs consume enormous quantities of water and Arizona (and the sw) are already in precarious position, and not even a semi viable theoretical option like desalination possible in the future
    - SpecialistK 2y ago
      There must be something Intel, TSMC, and NXP (fmr. Motorola) saw in the area to build several fabs there.
      - inemesitaffia 2y ago
        The water is recycled
        manquer 2y ago
        >water is recycled A sweeping statement, like plastic is recycled. It is more complex than that. It is energy intensive (and expensive) to recycle both low purity and ultra pure water (UPW) used and for some fabs it is just 40% [1] and there is no consistent globally adopted solution, most of the tech used is still evolving and not implemented everywhere. [1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/fabs-cut-back-water-use https://spectrum.ieee.org/fabs-cut-back-water-use
      - 2y ago