@HPCpodcast: Who’s Winning the High-Stakes U.S-China AI Race?

If you’re concerned about the advanced chip competition between the U.S. and China – and who isn’t? – then this week’s @HPCpodcast guest offers much food for thought. Handel Jones, founder and CEO of the International Business Strategies consulting firm, is the author of a new book, WHEN AI RULES THE WORLD: China, The U.S., And The Race To Control A Smart Planet. He contends that China is winning the AI race in part because the leadership of the PRC regime is more competent and technically astute than some in the West may think.

TSMC Holds 3nm Chip Ceremony in Taiwan, 2nm on Way

HSINCHU, Taiwan, R.O.C. – TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) held a 3 nanometer (3nm) volume production and capacity expansion ceremony on December 29 at its Fab 18 construction site in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP), bringing together suppliers, construction partners, central and local government, the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, and member of academia to witness an […]

TSMC’s $40B US Investment: 4nm Fab Hitting Snags, 3nm Plant Construction Has Begun

(Editor’s Note: This story, originally published on Dec. 5, was updated on Dec. 6.) Pointing to high costs and a US skills shortage, Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC has reported challenges to the completion by next December of its new 4 nanometer semiconductor plant north of Phoenix, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal on Dec. 5. “The $12 billion Arizona semiconductor plant under construction that President Biden is visiting Tuesday represents U.S. hopes for a renaissance in manufacturing, but the Taiwanese company building it says it won’t be easy,” the Journal article stated. “High costs, lack of trained personnel and unexpected construction snags are among the issues cited by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.  as it rushes to get the north Phoenix factory ready to start production in December 2023.”

TSMC August 2022 Revenue Report

HSINCHU, Taiwan, R.O.C. – Sep. 8, 2022 – TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced its net revenue for August 2022: On a consolidated basis, revenue for August 2022 was approximately NT$218.13 billion, an increase of 16.8 percent from July 2022 and an increase of 58.7 percent from August 2021. Revenue for January through August […]

@HPCpodcast: Taiwan under Threat from China – TSMC and the ‘Techno-politics’ of Advanced Chips

In this week’s episode of the @HPCpodcast, Doug Black and Shahin Khan discuss how global competition around advanced technologies has turned geopolitics into “techno-politics” and techno-nationalism. In HPC, this means chips that drive supercomputers are increasingly regarded as instrumental to economic and military competitiveness. Sparking this discussion is a recently published and widely read academic paper covered last week in insideHPC: “Chip Geopolitics: If China Invades, Make Taiwan ‘Unwantable’ by Destroying TSMC.” In the paper, two military strategists theorize that China’s threatened invasion across the Taiwan Strait