U.S. President Joe Biden and Apple CEO Tim Cook will both attend the "tool-in ceremony" at TSMC's $12 billion Arizona plant on Dec. 6. Some experts worry that Taiwan may be loosing its key technology status with this move while others disagree.
TSMC is set to move equipment into its new 5nm factory in Arizona. U.S. President Joe Biden, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and others will attend the ceremony. Many are concerned about whether the outflow of Taiwanese talents and technology may be the beginning of "de-Taiwanization" for TSMC.
Tseng Wen-sheng, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs: “Taking TSMC's establishment of its Japanese factory as an example, there is the strategic significance of its proximity and regionality. But the next stage of the semiconductor industry development is not as simple as solely a country's industrial development.”
Scholars believe that the vast majority of TSMC's advanced process technologies are still in Taiwan. Therefore, building a factory in the U.S. will not propel the loss of key technologies. TSMC can also deepen the cooperation with related U.S. companies that have advanced semiconductor technology so that it can stay at the forefront of the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Chi Kuo-chung, Lecturer, International College of Semiconductor Technology, NYCU: “TSMC is setting its capacity at about 3 percent to 5 percent. So you can see most of the advanced manufacturing processes are still in Taiwan. I think this kind of diversification is actually good for Taiwan.”
In addition to the United States, TSMC is also actively expanding in other parts of Asia, especially in Japan. Japanese scholars expressed their optimism about TSMC establishing in the U.S. at a Taiwan-Japan semiconductor conference on the 6th.
Keiji Aramaki, Executive Vice Pres., Institute of Systems, Information Technologies and Nanotechnologies: “The world is now unstable, including the epidemic. I don't think it's a bad thing for TSMC to set up production bases all over the world to maintain a certain balance.”
TSMC's recent actions have attracted the attention of the market. The company will hold the "TSMC Investor Day" on Dec.10 in California, U.S..
台積電亞利桑那州5奈米新廠即將舉行移機典禮，包括拜登、蘋果執行長庫克等人都將出席。外界最關注，台灣人才及技術是否外流，甚至可能是台積電「去台化」的開端。
經濟部次長曾文生表示：「（以台積電赴日設廠為例）其實有它的戰略意義在，它有它的就近性跟地域性，但為了下一個階段半導體產業的發展，事實上已經不單純，只是一個國家產業發展的問題。」
學者認為台積電的先進製程，絕大多數仍留在台灣，因此赴美不但不影響關鍵技術流失，還能加深與美國積體電路先進技術的相關公司合作，讓台積電維持走在積體電路製程的最先端。
陽明交通大學國際半導體產業學院講座教授紀國鐘指出：「它現在設定它的產能大概在3%到5%，所以你可以看的出來說，絕大部分先進的製程都還是在台灣本土，那我覺得這種分散其實對台灣是好處的。」
除了美國之外，台積電也正在亞洲其他地區積極拓展，尤其日本更是重要夥伴，6日一場台日半導體交流活動，日方學者也對台積電赴美抱持樂觀心態。
日本九州先端科學技術研究所副所長荒牧敬次表示：「現在全世界處於一個不安定的局勢，也包含了疫情在內，然後在全世界各地設置生產據點，其實從這個角度來看，保持某種程度的平衡，我覺得也不是一個壞事。」
台積電近期一舉一動都備受市場關注，本月10日台積電將在美國加州舉辦投資者日活動，這也是台積電相隔4年，再度於美國舉辦投資者日的實體活動，直接在當地和投資者溝通。