During the European Technology Symposium last week, TSMC shared insights into its Global Gigafab Manufacturing program. This initiative aims to standardize manufacturing processes across its various gigafab locations worldwide.
The necessity for a replication process among large-scale, multinational fabs is increasingly recognized. As expanding at the gigafab level equates to extending outwards, it’s crucial for chip manufacturers to promptly adapt new and refined manufacturing processes across facilities to meet demand and prevent bottlenecks caused by the need to adjust each fab individually.
Intel is known for its Copy Exactly program, which allows it to distribute process recipes throughout its global fabs, enhancing yields and minimizing performance discrepancies. Similarly, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is focusing on expanding its capacity internationally and is at a juncture where adopting a like-minded program is essential to swiftly optimize yields and productivity at its new fabs in Japan and the U.S. TSMC’s approach, however, ambitiously extends beyond Intel’s to include sustainability and social responsibility.
“As highlighted in last year’s symposium, [Global Gigafab manufacturing] serves as a robust worldwide manufacturing and management platform,” remarked Y.L. Wang, Vice President of Fab Operations at TSMC. “It unifies our fab management, enabling our Gigafab to maintain uniform operational efficiency and production quality globally. Furthermore, our commitment extends to sustainability, encompassing green manufacturing, nurturing global talent, localizing supply chains, and upholding social responsibility.”
| TSMC’s Global GigaFab Manufacturing Data by TSMC (Compiled by AnandTech) |
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| Manufacturing Excellence | Sustainability | ||
| Global One Fab Manufacturing | Green Manufacturing | ||
| ML-based Process Control | Global Talent Development | ||
| Manufacturing Agility and Quality | Supply Chain Localization | ||
| Maximum Productivity | Social Responsibility | ||
To enhance process technology, TSMC employs two main strategies: continuous process improvements (CPI) to heighten yields, and statistical process control (SPC) to minimize performance variances. The company utilizes various machine learning-based controls, consistent quality assessments, and productivity boosts. Through its Global Gigafab manufacturing, TSMC leverages CPI and SPC techniques to amplify yields and performance universally by synchronizing knowledge across its sites.
“By transferring technology from Taiwan to Arizona, the fabrication setup and process control systems are essentially replicas from Taiwan,” explained Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, and Deputy Co-COO at TSMC.
Although TSMC has yet to commence chip production at its fab locations in Germany, Japan, and the United States, the anticipated start of operations at its Fab 23 (in Kumamoto, Japan) and Fab 21 (in Arizona) during 2024 and 2025, respectively, suggests that yield optimizations to match those of its Taiwanese operations could be achieved relatively soon with the implementation of the Global Gigafab Manufacturing program.
