A TSMC Arizona fab delay affects Nvidia chip production
A TSMC Arizona Fab delay is the latest blow to the chip maker, with Nvidia likely to be among the biggest victims of the news. TSMC says that it is shifting some employees to Arizona to help with workforce development, but faces challenges sourcing skilled labor for its leading-edge fab. The Taiwanese firm has also seen its revenue projections for this year scaled back due to the delay.
The TSMC delay is a further blow for the semiconductor industry, which has been hit by a global slowdown partly caused by trade tensions between the US and China. TSMC has seen a decline in profit for the first time in four years, with a drop of nearly $6 billion in income.
Despite the demand for AI silicon, the company is not solely relying on AI in the short term. “We noticed that many investors and media tend to extrapolate the short-term AI demand to the long term,” TSMC chairman, Mark Liu, says. “Therefore, I have to emphasize that we are not solely relying on AI in the short term.”
Despite this, Liu says that “it is true that AI has grown into a megatrend for our future growth.” The company has an upcoming 7nm process that it says will “enjoy a long lifecycle and serve as the foundation for our future growth.” CEO C.C. Wei reinforces the belief that AI will be a foundational industry for the company’s future growth.
TSMC manufactures chips for Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Apple, and AMD processors. The Nvidia GeForce RTX N3 should be among the affected chips, with a launch now looking unlikely before 2024 at the very earliest.
The company has also seen its revenue projections for this year scaled back due to the delay in the Arizona fab. “We have been facing challenges in sourcing skilled labor for our leading-edge fab,” TSMC says. “Due to the higher expenses in the US compared to Taiwan, our capacity expansion in the US will be delayed by one quarter.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, the TSMC Arizona fab delay is causing significant setbacks for Nvidia and other chip manufacturers. The sourcing issues and challenges in skilled labor are impacting chip production and revenue projections. It is crucial for TSMC and the semiconductor industry to address these obstacles to ensure future growth and success.
