TSMC's 2nm plan revealed, may be released before 2025

Source: Content from " China Business Times ", thank you.

In order to prepare for the development and early mass production of TSMC's 3-nanometer plant, the Environmental Protection Agency approved the expansion plan of Baoshan Land in Hsinchu Science Park on the 11th. TSMC also revealed for the first time at the meeting that it plans to locate the development and mass production of its 2-nanometer plant in Hsinchu Science Park in five years to avoid the risk of R&D talent being dispersed or outflowed.

Hsinchu Science Park has been facing land saturation issues since the year 2000. In order to build a cluster of semiconductor talents, TSMC hopes to use Hsinchu Science Park as an important base for future advanced processes and expand the scope of the Hsinchu Park. It is expected to be expanded in two parts, the east park and the west community, in Baoshan Township, Hsinchu County, on the south side of the Hsinchu Park, with a total area of ​​approximately 33 hectares, and is expected to attract approximately 2,300 people in industrial activities.

Some environmental assessment committee members believed that the Baoshan base was not suitable for building any more factories. In addition to the hilly terrain, water use and transportation issues must also be considered. During the meeting, it was suggested that TSMC should move the 3-nanometer R&D plant elsewhere.

TSMC senior director of the Plant Affairs Department, Zhuang Zishou, responded that the current research and development (RD) plant is on the right side of the Baoshan base, but the existing RD plant can only achieve 5 nanometers, and the plant standards and heights below 3 nanometers must be expanded to comply with the new regulations.

He emphasized that TSMC has about 7,000 R&D engineers, and these engineering talents must be kept in Hsinchu. If it moves the R&D plant to Tainan like other peers, "the talents may be dispersed."

The 3-nanometer mass production plant in Southern Taiwan Science Park is a finalized plan. Zhuang Zishou said that the key point in the future is how to transfer RD engineers to the advanced 2-nanometer plant, because it takes three to five years to prepare the land. Considering from now to five years later, that is to say, assuming that the 2-nanometer plant must be placed in Hsinchu, some engineers can be transferred from R&D to the factory, "so that our scientific and technological talents will not be outflowed."

Zhuang Zishou emphasized that although the Baoshan land was not available in the Hsinchu Science Park for the past 30 years, the development of the 7-nanometer plant in Taichung has given TSMC more experience in building plants on hillsides. The company wants to boldly try to use the Baoshan land for the sake of its technology industry layout. It is considering keeping TSMC's 7,000 semiconductor process R&D talents in Hsinchu to work, and plans to try to develop this base at a higher cost.

Finally, the EIA team decided to recommend that the environmental impact assessment review of the Baoshan land in Hsinchu be passed. The developer must provide additional explanations on the soil liquefaction potential in the catchment area, river water quality assessment, and traffic impact during construction and operation. The entire case will be submitted to the EIA conference for review.

The expansion plan for Baoshan in Hsinchu Science Park failed twice in the environmental assessment team meeting due to the problems of developing slopes with different heights, impact on Hsinchu City's traffic, and Saisiyat cultural heritage. TSMC founder Morris Chang previously said that the 3nm process will be successfully developed within two years, and even if there is the challenge of the failure of "Moore's Law", 2nm may still be available before 2025.