Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TMSC) is the first CHIPS Act awardee to receive some of the money promised by the government. The Biden administration has ended its grants to TSMC, which expects to receive $6.6 billion in grants as part of its deal to increase semiconductor production in the United States. TSMC will also lend another $5 billion from the government to finance the expansion of its planned $65 billion three-factory complex in Arizona. According Bloomberg, will receive at least $1 billion of the total before the end of the year, given that it has already met a series of certain requirements.
In October, a Canadian research firm discovered that Huawei was using TSMC chips for its artificial intelligence accelerators, even though that violates US government sanctions. TSMC denied having any working relationship with Huawei and stopped shipping to the customer who may have been illegally shipping its chips to Huawei. It also decided to stop producing advanced ai chips for its Chinese customers, reportedly because it wanted to show the US government that it “is not acting against US interests.”
“Today's final agreement with TSMC, the world's leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductors, will spur $65 billion of private investment to build three state-of-the-art facilities in Arizona and create tens of thousands of jobs by the end of the decade. …The first of three TSMC facilities is on track to fully open early next year,” President Joe Biden said. said in a statement.
Other companies, such as Intel and Samsung, are still waiting to receive their subsidies. Business groups are reportedly urging the government to end its CHIPS Act agreements before Biden leaves office. While they are not worried about the new administration eliminating the CHIPS Act, which had bipartisan support, they apparently want to avoid the possibility of having to renegotiate with the government.
