TSMC’s Fab 21 located in Arizona is progressively enhancing its production capabilities. Recently, it started the production of several components including AMD’s Ryzen 9000-series processors for consumer PCs, and elements of Apple’s S9 system-in-package (SiP) for smartwatches, according to reports by Tim Culpan, a well-informed journalist, based on sources he consulted.

These sources suggest that TSMC’s Arizona-based Fab 21 is currently manufacturing at least three types of chips: the Apple A16 Bionic chip for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, at least one integrated circuit in the Apple S9 SiP for smartwatches (presumably the main application processor which includes two 64-bit cores and a quad-core neural engine), and a chip from AMD’s Ryzen 9000-series. All these chips are being produced utilizing TSMC’s advanced 4nm-class N4 and N4P technologies.

Tim Culpan indicated that TSMC is producing a CPU named “Grand Rapids” for AMD, a name previously unheard of. It’s plausible that AMD might be experimenting with a new, specialized type of silicon for targeted applications to evaluate TSMC’s new Arizona factory’s capabilities. Yet, it would typically be more logical to trial the facility with well-known silicon types. Additionally, given that Culpan’s sources are mainly from Taiwan and much of the information is transferred orally, it’s possible that there was a miscommunication, referring to “Granite Ridge” as “Grand Rapids,” since Granite Ridge is a known AMD silicon.

The first phase of TSMC’s Fab 21 is scheduled to commence full operations in the first half of 2025. Culpan mentions that all necessary machinery for Phase 1A has already been installed and is operational for chip production. Currently, the production capacity of this phase reaches 10,000 wafer starts per month. However, there are some equipment installation delays in Phase 1B, which could impact its planned capacity of 14,000 wafer starts per month, though these delays might be staggered with some tools being ready sooner than others.

Furthermore, staffing issues continue to pose challenges at Fab 21, as reported by Culpan. TSMC has recently issued internal calls for employees in Taiwan to fill several hundred positions in Arizona, spanning fabrication operations to equipment setup. Despite the company’s preference for hiring locally, this recruitment drive from its Taiwanese workforce underscores the difficulties in adequately staffing the new facility. The fact that local hires now surpass the number of Taiwanese staff in Arizona doesn’t alleviate the overall staffing challenges highlighted by the need to transfer a significant number of employees from headquarters.