One of the reasons for starting this series of short ‘Chiplet’ posts was to be able to share great work from other writers on Substack.
I recently shared Jon Metzler ‘s terrific discussion on the Circuit podcast on semiconductors in Japan.
This week Kevin Xu ‘s Interconnected Substack provided an update on the opening of TSMC’s new fab in Kumamoto in Japan.
It’s a fascinating report. Kevin particularly focuses on the contrast between the roll-out of the new TSMC fabs in Japan and its efforts in the US in Arizona.
The conventional wisdom is that it takes about three years to build a fab. Led by Kajima Corp., a 184-year-old construction company, the local workers got it done in 20 months!
How did it happen? By working 7 days a week and running 24-hour non-stop shifts. And not just to build the fab, but nice dormitories and other infrastructures too. It’s the kind of intensity that TSMC is used to in Taiwan.
It’s the kind of urgency that TSMC is not getting with its investments in the US so far.
As a bonus, Kevin’s post alerted me to TSMC founder Morris Chang’s recent talk at MIT, entitled ‘Lessons of a life in Chips Manufacturing : Texas to Taiwan’.
The talk centres around a short history of the semiconductor industry and of TSMC. It’s fantastic to see him still active and enthusiastic at 92!
It’s definitely worth watching all the way through, but if you only have a few minutes here are two of his key slides, the first covering TSMC’s foundry business model …
… and the second, his (and perhaps TSMC’s) view of the world today.
The ‘success’ of the CHIPS Act may depend less on culture and hard work than on subsidies and political purchasing edicts.
Thanks for the kind mention. I really enjoyed Kevin's post also - have shared with a class Slack and with a non-profit board so far! I really do want to get out to Kumamoto....