TSMC's Second 2nm Plant Sparks Environmental Concerns For Water & Power Usage

Image: Ann Wang/Reuters

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Visitor's (TSMC) plans to build a make new chip mill in the isle's Taichung city caused its councilor to need 2 gas fired electricity plants for managing the facility's ability consumption. This plant is designed to produce semiconductors on the advanced 2-nanometer (nm) semiconductor procedure, and information technology is planned as TSMC'due south second facility for 2nm manufacturing. The first facility volition exist built in Taiwan's Hsinchu city, with the company already having secured environmental approval for it.

TSMC's Taichung 2nm Plant Projected To Use 100,000 Cubic-Meters Of Water Daily and Billions of Kilowatt-Hours of Electricity In A Year

Details of a planned facility in Taichung, which has always been 2nd on TSMC's priorities due to its focus on the 2nm chip found planned for construction in Hsinchu, were revealed past Taichung City Counsellor Mr. Lin Qifeng. Co-ordinate to him, TSMC's 3nm institute uses 7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is astounding, and given that the 2nm products will feature several advancements over their predecessor, the 2nm facility should require even more free energy.

He highlighted that the environmental assessment committee is worried about the high electricity usage, which information technology believes has the potential to harm the surrounding environs, ecology and human wellness. The committee is particularly worried virtually the high rates of cancers in women in the expanse, and information technology hopes that TSMC volition provide a public certificate that explains the 2nm institute's bear on on the surround and the local population.

Additionally, he also highlighted that the plant's daily water consumption of 100,000 cubic meters carries the run a risk of besides impacting a coal-based electricity generation platform. To mitigate the touch on the coal fired institute, the Taichung official believes that TSMC should advance its switch to renewable energy sources, and if coal based power is not used, then ii gas-based plants demand to be built.

H2o tankers exit TSMC's fab in Taiwan as information technology navigated a historic drought and chip demand earlier this year. Epitome: CNA

TSMC already operates two facilities in Taichung, and one of these is responsible for the visitor's bread and butter. The Taichung Fab 15 is responsible for manufacturing semiconductor products on the N7+ node, which is an avant-garde design optimization of TSMC"s 7nm procedure family.

All the same, the company has at present moved over to the 5nm node, which is manufactured in its Fab 18, with an expansion of this facility currently underway. The Taichung site was the target of rumors earlier this year which speculated that TSMC had decided to relocate the institute to Kaohsiung due to h2o constraints. TSMC rejected these rumors, confirming the plans it had shared at an before consequence.

In other news, the Taiwanese media outlet UDN reports that a document shared by the visitor with the U.s.a. authorities lists downward TSMC's 2021 revenue as $56.6 billion for a 24% almanac growth. This report is publicly unavailable on the Department of Commerce'south Bureau of Industrial Security's (BIS) website.

The fab'due south Arizona facilities are moving alee smoothly, too, with its cleanroom supplier having received guidelines for installing equipment in Arizona. TSMC's Taiwanese partners accept besides fix their presence in the city that is becoming the epicenter of U.S. fleck manufacturing.