TSMC suddenly heard two big news, foreign media: Zhang Zhongmou no longer follows the lead of the United States

Before 2022, TSMC could be said to have almost complied with the requirements of the United States, but two recent news reports have shown that TSMC is unwilling to continue to comply with the requirements of the United States and is starting to find another way out of its dependence on American chips.

In 2021, the United States required TSMC and Samsung to submit confidential data, and Samsung quickly complied with the requirements. After various twists and turns, TSMC also submitted confidential data. However, soon after, the American chip leader Intel announced that the most advanced Intel 4 technology had made significant progress, which surprised TSMC and Samsung.

In 2022, TSMC began to accelerate the mass production process of its 5-nanometer factory in the United States. Even Zhang Zhongmou, who had previously opposed TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin, stated that even if the chip manufacturing cost in the United States was 50% higher, he would go to the United States to set up a factory, and not only would he build a 5-nanometer factory in the United States, but also a 3-nanometer factory in the United States. He also chartered ten planes to send 300 technical elites and their families from Taiwan Province to the United States, It can be said that he has completely demonstrated loyalty to the United States.

However, TSMC was originally aiming for the bright moon, while the United States was a bright moon shining in the ditch. The chip subsidy distribution finally announced by the United States showed that TSMC only received 10% of the chip subsidy share, which is even worse than Samsung, which received 13% of the subsidy share. Local chip companies in the United States received 70% of the chip subsidy, and TSMC received less than 10% of the investment amount in the United States, which made TSMC quite injured.

The US approach has undoubtedly hurt TSMC's heart. Since the beginning of the year, although TSMC has not spoken out to the US, it has quietly launched a layout, intending to break away from the previous dependence on US chips. Especially the recent two major news shows that TSMC is no longer willing to rely solely on the US as its leader.

The first point is that TSMC will abandon the US chip subsidies because the US chip subsidies are meager and the additional conditions are too strict. The US is attempting to obtain TSMC's technical secrets and restrict TSMC's chip customers through chip subsidies, which may cost TSMC's life. TSMC is certainly not willing to hand over its fate to the US.

The second point is that TSMC has decided to decentralize its factories and accelerate its plans to build factories in Japan and Europe. TSMC had already built a 10 nanometer factory in Japan, and the second factory planned to be built in Japan may introduce more advanced 5 nanometer technology in the future, indicating that the introduction of TSMC hopes to accelerate the expansion of the scale of its factories in Japan.

There were already plans to build factories in Europe, and Germany in Europe has recently extended its olive branch. Germany has stated that if TSMC builds factories in Germany, it will provide a 50% subsidy, with a subsidy amount several times that of the United States, demonstrating Germany's great sincerity. TSMC has also seen a huge opportunity brought by the European chip restart plan. The European Union has signed a 45 billion European chip plan, hoping to gain more than 20% of the global chip market share by 2030.

TSMC's plans to go to Japan and Europe are also related to the difficulties faced by American chips since last year. The revenue of American chips, which contribute 70% of TSMC's revenue, has plummeted, and at least four American chip companies have fallen into losses. In order to control costs, American chips have demanded that TSMC reduce prices. The decline of American chips has also prompted TSMC to quickly expand into other markets and avoid further drag from the decline of American chips.