Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has received final approval from the Taiwanese government to build a 2nm chip plant, its most advanced yet.
Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li for Nikkei Asia:
TSMC plans to build a 2-nanometer chip facility in Hsinchu, one of Taiwan’s most important chipmaking centers.
The Environmental Review Committee, a cross government and academic environmental regulatory body, approved the plan on Wednesday. This clears the way for TSMC to start construction of the facility in early 2022, and begin installing production equipment by 2023, sources familiar with the plan told Nikkei Asia.
The planned 2-nm chip plant will be located in Hsinchu’s Baoshan township and cover nearly 50 acres. It is expected to use 98,000 tons of water a day — roughly 50% of TSMC’s total daily water consumption in 2020. The chipmaker has promised to use 10% recycled water by 2025 and reach 100% reused water by 2030 at the new Baoshan facility.
TSMC missed its internal sustainability goals on water usage and waste generation last year as the world’s biggest semiconductor company ramped up output of the industry’s most advanced chips.
TSMC is constructing a 5-nm chip facility in Arizona, expanding its 28-nm capacity in Nanjing, China, and is eyeing new facilities in Japan and Germany.
MacDailyNews Take: At this rate, down to 2nm, batteries are going to seem like they last forever!
