There is some concern about having the world rely on TSMC for the production of cutting-edge chips
IC Insights, a research firm, says that countries looking to catch up with TSMC and Samsung Foundry would have to spend in the area of $30 billion a year over five years “to have any reasonable chance of success” catching up with TSMC and Samsung as the leading chip foundries in the world.
Production of chips in the U.S. has declined from 37% of the total in 1990 to the current 12% share
Taiwan might lead in chip production, but the U.S. still leads the way in both chip design and intellectual property. But when it comes to the manufacturing of chips, the U.S. has seen its share of chip production drop from 37% in 1990 to only 12% now.
Most analysts don’t see any chance to broaden the production of chips worldwide. That’s because of the amount of money required to build a factory which is approximately $20 billion. An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine, used to mark up wafers with circuit patterns,costs over $100 million each and if often delivered via multiple airplanes.