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U.S. chip fab construction is among the slowest in the world -- a complex web of regulations is to blame according to study

www.tomshardware.com U.S. chip fab construction is among the slowest in the world — a complex web of regulations is to blame according to study

It's kind of a mess.

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6 comments

  • The CSET study looked at fab construction between 1990 and 2020, and concluded that for the roughly 635 fabs built in that timeframe, the average time between the start of construction and production was 682 days. Three countries beat that benchmark: Taiwan at 654 days on average, Korea at 620, and Japan at a staggeringly fast 584 days. Meanwhile, Europe and the Middle East were about on par at 690 days, as was China at 701 days.

    However, the U.S. clocked in at 736 days, well above the worldwide average and second only to Southeast Asia at 781.

    Idk if I'm just a rube, but one month of difference doesn't seem like that big a deal. Also this author says that Taiwan is a country and that environmental protections should be cut to speed up construction.

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    • Yeah the framing there is kinda silly, but it does seem like the whole fab reshoring thing has been plagued with problems. The more interesting parts of the article were that the time to build fabs is increasing, especially in recent times

      Things look even worse when you look at specific decades. In the 90s and 2000s, the U.S. was pretty fast and saw average construction times of about 675 days. In the 10s, that number dramatically increased to 918 days. Meanwhile, China and Taiwan were going at a much faster pace that decade, with an average completion time of 675 and 642 days, respectively.

      and the number of fabs overall is at all time low

      Naturally, the amount of fabs the U.S. is making at all has also declined. In the 90s, 55 fabs were constructed in the U.S., dropping to 43 in the 2000s and then to 22 in the 10s. At the same time, China is massively accelerating its fab construction, from 14 in the 90s to 75 in the 2000s to 95 in the 10s.

      It's also not just a month difference for the delays

      The findings aren't surprising, as many high-profile fabs have missed their original targets for production. TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona recently added a one-year delay, Intel's Ohio fabs are apparently slipping from 2025 to late 2026, and Samsung delayed a Texas-based foundry to 2025 due to not receiving its CHIPS Act funds.

      And there are a couple of related data points from TSMC and Samsung regarding fab construction

      https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/us-government-doles-out-paltry-dollar35-million-of-the-dollar52-billion-chips-act-warns-of-possible-delays-in-intel-and-tsmc-fab-buildouts

      https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/us-govts-sluggish-chips-act-payouts-slam-the-breaks-on-samsungs-fab-company-delays-mass-production-at-texas-fab-to-await-further-chips-funding-report

      So, while I agree that EPA regulation isn't the core problem here, I think it's pretty clear that US is having trouble with the whole reshoring idea.

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      • TSMC got delayed because the local union demanded they stop replacing them with foreign workers and Samsung is delaying their construction because they're fighting with Intel for subsidies.

        Lol and we call these companies "job creators" when we have to fight them to even hire us. And why can't Samsung pull themselves up by their bootstraps and free market themselves a factory, hmmm? 🤔

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  • I garentee its not actually the regulations slowing this down, this is just the industry taking advantage of American ineptitude to get regulations pealed back

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