Unstoppable demand for AI is leading to a capacity crunch on factory lines at the world’s leading chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor. And it could put a chokehold on AI’s ability to scale. Analysts tell CNBC that Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, AMD and others are locked in an “extremely fierce” competition to get their GPUs, CPUs and custom AI chips made at TSMC. Capacity can’t come online fast enough, despite TSMC’s rush to build new fabs in Taiwan, Japan and Arizona, where has expanded investment to $265 billion. The strain has made one man at TSMC “the most popular person on the planet,” as chip start-ups and big name CEOs visit Taiwan to ask him for wafer allocation. It’s also created a rich opportunity for Intel, as customers look to the long-struggling foundry arm of the U.S. chip manufacturer for a second source.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:06 ‘Most popular person on the planet’
6:54 Making room for smaller players
9:10 Can new U.S. fabs ease the crunch?
Producer and Reporter: Katie Tarasov
Edited by: Matt Soto, Andrew Evers
Camera: Eddie Temborski, Robert Lampe, Evan Reinhardt
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Animation: Jason Reginato, Emily Park
Additional Footage: Cerebras, D-Matrix, Getty Images, Intel, Nvidia, OpenAI, SpaceX, TSMC
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Why There’s An ‘Extremely Fierce’ Battle For TSMC’s Limited Chip Manufacturing Capacity
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