Taiwan Semi board member lobbies Congress to pass CHIPS Act just days after Intel: report
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Ming-Hsin Kung, minister of Taiwanâs National Development Council and a Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) board member, has made comments calling on Congress to pass the CHIPS Act, just days after Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) did the same as the world struggles with a global shortage of semiconductors.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Kung noted that Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) has already started its plant in Arizona "because of trust," but added that they believed the CHIPS Act would be passed by Congress and the pace of construction on the plant would depend on the federal subsidies in the legislation.
In February, it was reported that Taiwan Semiconductor's (TSM) Arizona plant was between three to six months behind schedule.
Last week, GlobalFoundries (GFS) and Intel (INTC) both made similar comments, with an Intel (INTC) spokesman saying "the scope and pace of our expansion in Ohio will depend heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act."
The CHIPS Act was passed in the Senate last year, providing $52B in subsidies for semiconductor companies. However, it is still not law as the House and Senate reconcile differences in both of their legislation that are unrelated to semiconductors, including climate provisions and issues dealing with Chinese trade, the Washington Post previously reported.
Approximately 12% of the world's chips are made in the U.S., compared to roughly 80% that are built in Asia, according to industry data.
In addition to needing subsidies for the plant, Kung added that Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) has been unable to find enough trained semiconductor engineers in the area to employ. As a result, roughly 250 people have been sent to Taiwan for training purposes, including hands-on work.
The Arizona plant is slated to produce 5 nm semiconductors, which are used in everything from smartphones, PCs, laptops, tablets and more.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) would raise prices roughly 6% for the majority of its manufacturing processes starting in January.