TSMC Founder Considers Washington's $52B Chip Rebuilding Plan Unfeasible; Questions Intel's Intentions


Anusuya Lahiri
Tue, October 26, 2021, 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (NYSE: TSM) founder Morris Chang for the first time directly and publicly questioned Washington's efforts to rebuild semiconductor manufacturing despite TSM's move to build an advanced chip facility in the U.S. state of Arizona, Nikkei Asia reports

"Even after you spend hundreds of billions of dollars, you will still find the supply chain to be incomplete, and you will find that it will be very high cost, much higher costs than what you currently have," Chang said.

The U.S. Senate recently passed a $52 billion bill to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing and R&D to usher more chip production onto American soil.

Chang alleged Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger, who considered Taiwan, South Korea as unsafe, is driven by self-interest.

"This is going to be a challenge for the Asian semiconductor industry, global semiconductor industry, including Intel."

Rethinking the supply chain will be a challenge for everyone, Chang said. Previously, Chang had said government efforts worldwide to increase chip production could boomerang without specifying which countries.

Europe, Japan, and China also are preparing up to boost production at home with government aid. TSM recently talked about building its first chip facility in Japan.