According to reports, the US government is urging TSMC to produce military chips in the US. TSMC’s chips are used in the US F-35 fighter jets. According to the data, the F-35 fighter (nickname: Lightning II), is a US single-seat (single-engine) fighter / joint attack jet. TSMC had hired Peter Cleveland, who previously hosted lobbying for Intel, to strengthen communication with the US. Cleveland was part of Intel for more than a decade, and this month he updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new role. This includes handling policy, legislative, and regulatory matters on behalf of TSMC. However, there is no official statement from TSMC with regards the speculation.
Will TSMC cave to the US government?
Production in the US is not entirely cheap. Besides, with all that is going on with Huawei, TSMC (a Taiwanese company) will be very careful with moving production (no matter how small) to the US. The Huawei situation could be discouraging many foreign companies (whether Chinese or not) from taking production to the US. Thus, TSMC has a lot to consider before moving production to the US.
Gizchina News of the week
TSMC is the world’s largest foundry semiconductor manufacturing plant. Its customers include Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, and more. Its headquarters is in Hsinchu Science and Technology Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan. TSMC’s stock is on the Taiwan Stock Exchange with a stock code of 2330. In addition, American Depositary Receipts are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the stock code is TSM. US stocks closed on Wednesday, and TSMC (NYSE: TSM) shares fell 3.2% to $58.39 with a total market value of about $302.815 billion.
TSMC could get all Apple A14 orders
According to Taiwan’s “Central News Agency” report, the wafer foundry, TSMC, is progressing smoothly on its 5nm process. This manufacturing process will go into mass production in the first half of this year. TSMC will hold a corporate briefing soon on its advanced process technology. This has become the focus of attention in the market. According to reports, TSMC’s 5nm process is 80% complete. Interestingly, there are speculations that TSMC could win all orders for Apple’s 5nm A14 processor.