Xinzhiyuan Report
Source: foreign media, etc.
Edit: LQ
【Xin Zhiyuan Guide】The chip war escalates again! Biden held a “chip summit” at the White House to discuss the “chip shortage” with the head of the company. White House officials said that transferring half of the chips needed by the United States to the country is a short-term goal. Yes, the chip must be “made in America”.
Last Thursday, the US Department of Commerce included seven Chinese supercomputer entities, including Tianjin Feiteng, on the “trade blacklist.”
After that, the market named one of the seven entities, “Tianjin Feiteng”, whose chips were made by TSMC. In this regard, TSMC said: The company has always followed all laws and regulations and will definitely implement it in accordance with export control regulations.
According to the news from the Taiwanese media “Economic Daily”, after the release of the latest export control list in the United States, TSMC’s internal “comprehensive inventory” mechanism was launched “the first time” to comply with laws and regulations and the system to “integrate with the international” direction, and continue to “dynamics” Responding to the updated US export control measures, and “stop accepting” orders that have been newly included in the sanctions of the entity list.
TSMC “stops taking orders”, will Feiteng become the second “HiSilicon”?
This time TSMC “stopped taking orders”, Tianjin Feiteng was suspended.
I can’t help but think of the “HiSilicon” that had the same experience. At that time, HiSilicon, which was in an expansion period, was included in the control list by the United States when it ranked among the top three customers of TSMC. The United States’ sanctions were tightening step by step, cutting off Huawei. Chip supply.
According to the supply chain, after TSMC’s internal inventory, Feiteng and other indirect orders placed through IC design companies, the annual output is less than 10,000 pieces. Last year, TSMC’s actual shipment of 12.398 million pieces was equivalent to 12-inch wafers. In terms of the proportion of TSMC’s total shipments, the indirect impact of Feiteng is estimated to be only about 0.08%, while the total impact of other adjustments is estimated to be less than 3%.
In other words, compared with HiSilicon, Feiteng accounts for TSMC’s film production ratio.
Although the shipments of Worldchip, an island company that supplies Feiteng IC designs, have been greatly affected. Its stock price has fallen to a limit for three consecutive days. This year, a quarter of its revenue will evaporate, but for TSMC, it is “not afraid.”
In the past two years, due to changes in US export control policies, TSMC has developed some “resilience.” Although many of its customers are concentrated in the consumer electronics field, in recent years it has also begun to strengthen management and control, such as signing commitment statements.
Recently due to the shortage of global chips, the seller’s market has been established. After TSMC stopped accepting orders from the newly included entity list sanctions, the vacated capacity was immediately filled by other customers in line, such as the serious shortage of in-vehicle chips. Not idle.
As of the end of last year, TSMC had 510 global customers with 1,617 product types, involving 281 process technologies such as advanced processes, special processes, and advanced packaging.
Sixty percent of the huge customer base is in the United States.
Needless to say, the US market is very important.
Biden’s “core disease”
For the United States, the importance of TSMC is self-evident.
For example, at the White House Chip Summit just held, Biden convened the heads of 19 major American companies to discuss how to alleviate the chip shortage.
Participating companies include not only Big tech, such as Google’s parent company Alphabet, but also aircraft manufacturer Northrom Grumman, automobile manufacturers General Motors and Ford Motor, and semiconductor key company Intel.
In addition, TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin was also invited to attend the conference.
At this “Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience CEO Summit”, Biden personally attended the meeting and brought Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimundo, Director of the National Economic Council Brian Dis and National Security Advisor Jack Shah. Liwen, with such specifications, it can also be seen that the White House attaches great importance to the chip.
At the meeting, Biden stated that he has received the support of the “bipartisan” in solving the semiconductor problem. He will urge Congress to invest US$50 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research, which is part of his “US$2 trillion infrastructure plan.” Part.
“I have always emphasized that China and the world are not waiting, and the United States has no reason to wait. The United States is now focusing its capital investment in semiconductors, batteries and other fields-this is what others are doing, and we must do it too.” Biden said at the meeting. The media urged when part of the public announcement.
At the meeting, when referring to chips and wafers, Biden said that “this is all infrastructure.”
So, what did the big guys talk to the president?
The White House said in a statement that executives at the conference emphasized the importance of improving the transparency of the semiconductor supply chain to help alleviate current supply shortages and improve demand forecasts to help avoid future challenges.
The executives also discussed the “importance of encouraging increased semiconductor production capacity in the United States to ensure that we never face shortages again.”
Intel CEO Pat Kissinger said that it will start producing chips within “six to nine months” to solve the supply shortage that has caused the shutdown of some automobile factories in the United States.
National Security Advisor Sullivan said in a statement: “Trying to solve supply chain problems by taking some actions in a crisis will cause serious national security loopholes.” It is too late to wait for the crisis to be resolved. .
Although the specifications of this meeting were high, the president only “chat” with the executives. Regarding the issue of automakers and electronic product manufacturers taking the opportunity to compete for chips, people familiar with the matter revealed that the White House does not support any “special treatment” in certain industries. .
Chairman of TSMC: Confident to successfully build a factory in the United States
For TSMC, the White House participation in the “chat” seems to have gained a lot.
TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin said after the meeting: “TSMC is confident that the 5-nanometer advanced wafer fab project to be built in Phoenix, Arizona is also one of the largest foreign direct investment projects in the history of the United States. Under the cross-party cooperation with the U.S. government Will succeed.”
TSMC already has a fab in Kamaz, Washington, and design centers in Austin, Texas, and San Jose, California.
The fab in Phoenix is the second production base established by TSMC in the United States, with an investment of US$12 billion and a planned monthly production capacity of 20,000 12-inch wafers. It plans to start construction this year and start mass production in 2024, which will bring more than 1,600 high-tech job opportunities indirectly create thousands of job opportunities for the semiconductor industry ecosystem.
Jason Oxman, CEO of the US Information Technology Industry Council, pointed out that the Biden government is recommended to provide more long-term financial support and tax incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, especially for TSMC, which has determined to invest heavily in the United States.
According to data, the cost of investing and building factories in the United States is 30%-50% higher than in other regions.
The root of the global chip shortage lies in the United States
Former Google CEO Schmidt once pointed out that the United States is “heavyly dependent” on TSMC’s chip supply.
He said: “If you want to produce leading hardware products, this is what we need to produce. You may need TSMC. Their products are much faster and much better.”
The entire Taiwan Province occupies 65% (some say 77.5%) of the global foundry market, and TSMC accounts for most of it.
Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD and Apple all rely on TSMC’s foundry. In other words, about “65%” of the demand in the US market is met by TSMC.
In addition, TSMC is also the world’s best chip manufacturer.
TSMC has the most advanced 7-nanometer process technology, and is developing and preparing for mass production of the 3-nanometer process.
In addition, TSMC has also made breakthroughs in the research and development of advanced 2nm process.
More than half of the world’s chips come from TSMC, and TSMC has turned itself into the center of the technology supply chain.
Compared with its rivals, TSMC’s technological level is 10 years ahead of Samsung.
SMIC has just completed 14-nanometer mass production in 2020, which is the level of TSMC five years ago.
Sure enough, TSMC is big and good.
In the 1990s, the United States was the main force in semiconductor chip production, accounting for about 37% of the world, but now the self-production rate of semiconductor production in the United States only accounts for 12% of the national demand.
Former Google CEO Schmidt said that the United States hopes to lead China by at least two generations in chip production and must return semiconductor production to its homeland.
This CEO, who has served as a science and technology consultant for the US Department of Defense, once led a think tank to publish a report entitled Asymmetric Competition: A Strategy for China & Technology.
The report specifically pointed out that the next generation of chips (including semiconductor chips and biochips) technology is very important to the United States, because it can not only “snap” China’s neck with it, but also increase the speed of technology that can increase the overall innovation speed, and is related to national security. Closely related.
This type of think tank has more than one suggestion, all of which have greatly influenced the policies of the US government.
Regarding the White House chip summit, some analysts said that the meeting was nominally to coordinate the shortage of chips in the United States, but in fact it was to re-upgrade the chip war in the United States.
On the surface, a group of companies such as General Motors in the United States caused insufficient chip orders due to the outbreak of the epidemic and insufficient sales. In fact, it is well known that the general shortage of global chips and the chaos and even rupture of the entire supply chain are mainly caused by the forced changes in the United States. Market and economic laws have unprovoked suppression of Chinese high-tech companies such as Huawei, intensified the US technology war, and attempted to cut off the supply of semiconductor chips and even decouple the industry.
On the 12th, at the analyst meeting held by Huawei, Huawei Vice Chairman and Rotating Chairman Xu Zhijun said:
In the past two years, the United States has imposed sanctions on Huawei three times. The damage to Huawei is great, and the damage will continue to show up. “Sanctions will do more damage to the global industrial chain.” Europe, Japan, etc. are all increasing investment in semiconductors. , Europe clearly emphasized that it has invested heavily to achieve semiconductor independence.
But the fact is that the United States is still advancing its high-tech and semiconductor chip strategies in the name of dealing with China.
According to White House officials, the United States’ short-term goal is to transfer half of the production of chips needed by the United States to “inside the United States” as soon as possible. This may be a specific goal of the White House chip conference.
Obviously, TSMC is the target of wooing.
Reference materials:
https://www.guancha.cn/internation/2021_04_13_587187.shtml
https://money.udn.com/money/story/5612/5384140
https://www.toutiao.com/a6950262088631665165/?tt_from=weixin&utm_campaign=client_share&wxshare_count=1×tamp=1618316456&app=news_article_social&utm_source=weixin&utm_medium=toutiao_ios&utm_medium=toutiao_ios&utm_medium=toutiao_share&use_new_medium=toutiao_share
https://www.sohu.com/a/460345316_115479
https://money.udn.com/money/story/12926/5381565
You must log in to post a comment.