TSMC begins work on 'world's most advanced' chip fab, costs $48.5 billion for 1.4nm production

TSMC has reportedly started the foundation pile construction for its new 1.4nm process node semiconductor plant, with the new fab coming in at a cost of a whopping $48.5 billion.

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In a new report from UDN, we're hearing that TSMC kicked off construction on its new 1.4nm semiconductor plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park yesterday, but didn't hold a public groundbreaking ceremony, and kept a rather low profile about it all. TSMC is expected to complete risk trial production before the end of 2027, with mass production kicking off in 2028.

TSMC said yesterday that the groundbreaking had started for the new fab in the Taichung Science Park, with the second phase of the expansion project to work on advanced 1.4nm (A14) processes. Construction was meant to start this year, but it is now planned to "proceed as planned" reports UDN.

The second phase of TSMC's new Central Taiwan Science Park project is dubbed "Fab 25", and will house four 1.4nm wafer fabs with the first fab expected to complete risk production by the end of 2027, and mass production of 1.4nm (A14) wafers starting in the second half of 2028. TSMC estimates to have a monthly capacity of around 50,000 wafers.

TSMC's upcoming A14 process node will be used by companies including Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek, as well as other mobile-focused companies. NVIDIA and AMD will tap TSMC's bleeding-edge A14 process node for next-gen AI architectures, too.