Summary
TechInsights reports that producing wafers at TSMC’s Arizona fab costs only 10% more than in Taiwan, contradicting claims of excessive U.S. production costs.
High expenses stem mainly from building the first overseas fab in decades with unskilled labor, not operational costs.
Equipment costs, which dominate wafer expenses, are consistent across locations. Labor costs, though higher in the U.S., account for less than 2% of total costs due to automation.
Logistics are slightly more complex but not significantly costlier. TSMC reportedly charges a 30% premium for U.S.-made chips.
it’s the making of high technology chips out of the wafer that’s expensive rather than the wafers themselves.
Okay, it’s just the title that’s stupid.
Uh… Obviously? When people talk about wafers coming out of a foundry they’re talking about processed ones…
At one point in my job we were working with unprocessed ones. Different people will have different perspectives.