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This was apparently a Linde installation custom built for TSMC in Arizona.[1] Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are extracted from air on-site and purified. That's L

This was apparently a Linde installation custom built for TSMC in Arizona.[1] Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are extracted from air on-site and purified. That's Linde's primary business; liquefying and distilling air. This isn't some little local company or a company operating outside their area of expertise. Those gases are storeable, so it's surprising there wasn't enough tank capacity to deal with outages. The site plan [2] shows "Gas Plant 1", and future "Gas Plant 2" and "Gas Plant 3". The gas plants are across a small road from the fab and feed the plant directly. Once Gas Plants 2 and 3 were built, there would be redundancy, but at this stage, there isn't a backup. The plan doesn't show a large tank farm, so they can't store gases in bulk. [1] https://www.aztechcouncil.org/utility-company-makes-progress-on-infrastructure-for-taiwan-semiconductor-project-in-north-phoenix/ https://www.aztechcouncil.org/utility-company-makes-progress... [2] https://semiwiki.com/forum/threads/tsmc-phoenix-arizona-fab-site-plan.16066/ https://semiwiki.com/forum/threads/tsmc-phoenix-arizona-fab-...

NoiseBert69 1y ago
Linde is huge. They can produce and offer all gases in all available purity classes.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- jack_tripper 1y ago
  Is this an ad?
  - RealityVoid 1y ago
    I don't think Linde™ needs an add, everyone knows Linde™ is the most reliable partner in producing and storing gases in all available purity classes. (joke off, it's probably not an add, but they were excited to share the reason you see Linde on all sorts of gas tanks all over the place. It's actually quite common and if you see it once you see it everywhere. )
    - wiredpancake 1y ago
      I've never seen Linde ever in my life (Australia). What is funny though, at least in the Australia and UK regions, they still use the BOC brand, which is a subsidiary under Linde.
      - nandomrumber 1y ago
        Competitors in the space in Australia include Air Liquide and Supagas. Supagas tend to have better prices for smaller operators, and hobbyists.
      - mcbain 1y ago
        Linde was definitely around as a distinct brand in Australia before they bought BOC in 2006, but since then as you said, they now just trade as BOC.
  - nebula8804 1y ago
    Possibly but also plausible is that its a deep joke that everyone is in on. When googling the company, the marketing slogan that comes up is "Linde is Everywhere" but that works on so many levels. They sell air, air is everywhere. Therefore Linde is everywhere. They are a company that sells air: that stuff that people breathe. Forget this AI nonsense. Jensen has to constantly pull something out of rear to keep food on the table. These guys sell air. What a business. :)
  - supportengineer 1y ago
    This is 2025, everything is an ad.
- astrange 1y ago
  Is there some reason you'd want gasses in a lower purity class? (Well, it's cheaper.)
  - rpmisms 1y ago
    Fire suppression, welding gases, etc.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - sitharus 1y ago
    The only reason is cost. If you don’t need the purity then save the money.
  - yummypaint 1y ago
    It might be more convenient to purchase pre-blended mixes for many applications. For example 90% argon 10% isobutane. In welding this would be "impure" but for ionization counting it's exactly what you want.
  - NoiseBert69 11mo ago
    Not only cheaper - but often also "good enough"
sevensor 1y ago
Unless things have changed a lot since I fled semiconductor manufacturing, you would still need silane tanks at least. I’m as surprised as you that they don’t have buffer tanks.
- cosmic_quanta 1y ago
  Why did you use the term "fled"? Any interesting story? From the outside, I would love to participate in semiconductor manufacturing.
  - bob1029 1y ago
    I left the industry because it is soul crushing for anyone who wants to try new ideas. I also had a pager strapped to me 24/7/365. Finding a US backup for a UI developed in an obscure language owned by a Japanese IT company proved to be quite challenging. I bet they're still using it to this day and just managing it from Korea now. The risk of rewriting or refactoring some of this stuff is measured in 10-11 figures.
  - sevensor 1y ago
    The semiconductor manufacturing process is so ridiculously cool that they have to make the working conditions terrible to keep the plant from being flooded with junior engineers. I worked in ion implant, which means I was responsible for honest-to-god particle accelerators working right. But you pay for the cool factor in sweat. Pager duty isn’t a thing you take turns with. It’s your duty to carry a pager, always, from the day you sign on until the day you leave. And you will get paged. A lot. At all hours. Some of those pages will require you to go in, but you work so many hours at the plant that you’re probably already there. Did you know that “exempt” means “exempt from the 40 hour work week?” You probably have to attend at least one passdown meeting a day. Those are at 6, and whether that’s a.m. or p.m., it means you’re working a long day. The fab needs weekend coverage too, so every fifth or sixth week, you go in and work straight through, 12 days. And then there’s the software. Part of my job was entering numbers into a system that had been designed to make it hard to enter numbers in it. This was so that you wouldn’t change them too often. But we did. A big part of the job was data analysis, but instead of actual access, certain data was only available as server rendered PNGs. Small ones. I could go on, but I think that’s enough.
ErroneousBosh 1y ago
> Those gases are storeable, so it's surprising there wasn't enough tank capacity to deal with outages. It probably depends on the duration of the outage. I'd expect they have some storage, and if they plan on having the compressor plant down for longer that that can manage they'll bring in tanks.

NoiseBert69 1y ago

Linde is huge. They can produce and offer all gases in all available purity classes.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
jack_tripper 1y ago
Is this an ad?
- RealityVoid 1y ago
  I don't think Linde™ needs an add, everyone knows Linde™ is the most reliable partner in producing and storing gases in all available purity classes. (joke off, it's probably not an add, but they were excited to share the reason you see Linde on all sorts of gas tanks all over the place. It's actually quite common and if you see it once you see it everywhere. )
  - wiredpancake 1y ago
    I've never seen Linde ever in my life (Australia). What is funny though, at least in the Australia and UK regions, they still use the BOC brand, which is a subsidiary under Linde.
    - nandomrumber 1y ago
      Competitors in the space in Australia include Air Liquide and Supagas. Supagas tend to have better prices for smaller operators, and hobbyists.
    - mcbain 1y ago
      Linde was definitely around as a distinct brand in Australia before they bought BOC in 2006, but since then as you said, they now just trade as BOC.
- nebula8804 1y ago
  Possibly but also plausible is that its a deep joke that everyone is in on. When googling the company, the marketing slogan that comes up is "Linde is Everywhere" but that works on so many levels. They sell air, air is everywhere. Therefore Linde is everywhere. They are a company that sells air: that stuff that people breathe. Forget this AI nonsense. Jensen has to constantly pull something out of rear to keep food on the table. These guys sell air. What a business. :)
- supportengineer 1y ago
  This is 2025, everything is an ad.
astrange 1y ago
Is there some reason you'd want gasses in a lower purity class? (Well, it's cheaper.)
- rpmisms 1y ago
  Fire suppression, welding gases, etc.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- sitharus 1y ago
  The only reason is cost. If you don’t need the purity then save the money.
- yummypaint 1y ago
  It might be more convenient to purchase pre-blended mixes for many applications. For example 90% argon 10% isobutane. In welding this would be "impure" but for ionization counting it's exactly what you want.
- NoiseBert69 11mo ago
  Not only cheaper - but often also "good enough"

sevensor 1y ago

Unless things have changed a lot since I fled semiconductor manufacturing, you would still need silane tanks at least. I’m as surprised as you that they don’t have buffer tanks.

cosmic_quanta 1y ago
Why did you use the term "fled"? Any interesting story? From the outside, I would love to participate in semiconductor manufacturing.
- bob1029 1y ago
  I left the industry because it is soul crushing for anyone who wants to try new ideas. I also had a pager strapped to me 24/7/365. Finding a US backup for a UI developed in an obscure language owned by a Japanese IT company proved to be quite challenging. I bet they're still using it to this day and just managing it from Korea now. The risk of rewriting or refactoring some of this stuff is measured in 10-11 figures.
- sevensor 1y ago
  The semiconductor manufacturing process is so ridiculously cool that they have to make the working conditions terrible to keep the plant from being flooded with junior engineers. I worked in ion implant, which means I was responsible for honest-to-god particle accelerators working right. But you pay for the cool factor in sweat. Pager duty isn’t a thing you take turns with. It’s your duty to carry a pager, always, from the day you sign on until the day you leave. And you will get paged. A lot. At all hours. Some of those pages will require you to go in, but you work so many hours at the plant that you’re probably already there. Did you know that “exempt” means “exempt from the 40 hour work week?” You probably have to attend at least one passdown meeting a day. Those are at 6, and whether that’s a.m. or p.m., it means you’re working a long day. The fab needs weekend coverage too, so every fifth or sixth week, you go in and work straight through, 12 days. And then there’s the software. Part of my job was entering numbers into a system that had been designed to make it hard to enter numbers in it. This was so that you wouldn’t change them too often. But we did. A big part of the job was data analysis, but instead of actual access, certain data was only available as server rendered PNGs. Small ones. I could go on, but I think that’s enough.

ErroneousBosh 1y ago

> Those gases are storeable, so it's surprising there wasn't enough tank capacity to deal with outages. It probably depends on the duration of the outage. I'd expect they have some storage, and if they plan on having the compressor plant down for longer that that can manage they'll bring in tanks.