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| U.S. companies and officials have long worried about overly relying on Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, for the world’s most advanced computer chips. That’s because Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which is the biggest maker of leading-edge chips, is based there. |
| 长久以来，对于过度依赖台湾——中国对其有领土主张——来生产全球最先进的计算机芯片，美国企业和官员一直深感忧虑。因为台湾有全球最大的尖端芯片制造商：台湾积体电路制造。 |
| Now a hedge against that risk is taking shape in — of all places — the northern outskirts of the most populous city in Arizona. |
| 而今，就在亚利桑那州人口最多城市的北郊，针对这一风险的对冲正在形成。 |
| TSMC outlined a $40 billion plan on Tuesday to expand and upgrade a U.S. production hub that it is building in Phoenix. At the 1,100-acre site, where gleaming buildings bearing the company’s logo are springing up among the desert shrubbery and cactus-dotted foothills, TSMC plans to import advanced manufacturing technology that has largely been limited to its factories in Taiwan. |
| 周二，台积电介绍了一项耗资400亿美元的规划，扩建和升级该公司正在菲尼克斯建设的美国生产中心。在占地约450公顷的厂区，挂有台积电标志的闪亮大楼在沙漠灌木丛和仙人掌点缀的山间拔地而起。该公司计划在这里引入原来基本仅限其台湾工厂使用的先进制造工艺。 |
| The enhancements could allow the Phoenix factory — TSMC’s first major U.S. production site — to eventually produce chips, for Apple’s iPhones, that can perform nearly 17 trillion specialized calculations per second. TSMC later plans to build a second factory there that will feature even more advanced production technology, targeting future smartphones, computers and other smart devices. |
| 这些助力可能让台积电菲尼克斯工厂（该公司首个主要的美国生产基地）最终能够为苹果iPhone造出每秒可执行近17万亿次特定运算的芯片。台积电还计划随后在当地建立第二家工厂，采用更先进的制造工艺，瞄准未来的智能手机、电脑和其他智能设备。 |
| The expansion is so significant that an event on Tuesday to celebrate the move drew President Biden and Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, as well as other companies and government officials. |
| 台积电此次扩建的意义非常重大，以至于周二举行的典礼有拜登总统、苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克以及其他企业和政府官员到场。 |
| “This is an incredibly significant moment,” Mr. Cook said during his turn onstage, as Arizona political leaders and corporate executives snacked on ceviche, drank champagne and listened to orchestra musicians. Mr. Cook tied TSMC’s semiconductor production capacities to the “unrivaled ingenuity of American workers.” |
| “这是意义非凡的一刻，”库克在讲话时表示，台下的亚利桑那州政界领袖和企业高管正在品尝酸汁鱼，喝着香槟，欣赏管弦乐队的演奏。库克将台积电的半导体生产能力与“美国工人无与伦比的创造力”相提并论。 |
| Later, after Mr. Biden toured the massive facility, he framed the semiconductor investment as part of his plan to help position America “to win the economic competition of the 21st century” and reverse the decline in domestically produced computer chips. |
| 随后，拜登参观了巨大的工厂，他说在半导体上的投入是他“帮助美国赢得21世纪经济竞争”，扭转国产计算机芯片衰落势头的计划的一部分。 |
| “Folks, where is it written that America can’t lead the world once again in manufacturing?” Mr. Biden asked the crowd. “I don’t know where that’s written. And we’re proving it can.” |
| “诸位，谁说美国不能在制造业上再次引领全球？”拜登向观众发问。“我不知道谁能说这话。我们正在证明美国可以成功。” |
| Advanced semiconductor factories, known as “fabs,” can fabricate hundreds of fingernail-size chips on 12-inch silicon wafers. The production requires costly and complicated machines, some of which are already beginning to arrive at the site in massive crates. |
| 被称为“晶圆厂”的先进半导体工厂可以在12英寸硅片上组装数以百计指甲大小的芯片。这一程序需要用上昂贵而复杂的仪器，其中一些已经被装入巨大的板条箱运往厂区。 |
| TSMC’s new $40 billion estimate for spending in Arizona includes the $12 billion it pledged when the initial factory was announced in 2020. It now says the site will employ 4,500 permanent workers, up from an earlier estimate of 2,000, while creating 21,000 construction jobs. |
| 台积电投入到亚利桑那州的400亿美元预算包括了2020年宣布建立首家工厂时承诺的120亿美元。该公司如今表示，这家工厂将雇佣4000名长期雇员，高于此前预估的2000人，同时还能创造2.1万个建筑工作岗位。 |
| The upgraded plan is the latest sign of how geopolitical concerns are causing companies and governments to modify longtime strategies, countering historical trends that led companies to shift most semiconductor manufacturing to Asia. It also underscores the widening recognition of the importance of chips and new technologies for producing them, which add calculating power to consumer gadgets, cars and military equipment such as missiles and drones. |
| 地缘政治的担忧正在使企业和政府做出长期战略调整，逆转了企业将大部分半导体制造业务转移到亚洲的历史趋势，台积电计划的升级是最新表现。这也凸显出芯片及其生产新工艺的重要性愈发得到重视，这些新工艺能够增加消费电子产品、汽车、以及导弹和无人机等军事装备的计算能力。 |
| Former President Donald J. Trump and now Biden administration officials have pushed for measures to encourage both foreign and domestic chip makers to build more factories in the United States. Democrats and Republicans, influenced by a recent chip shortage, agreed in July to a $52 billion package of subsidies in the CHIPS and Science Act for the greater expense of building such plants. |
| 前总统特朗普和现总统拜登的政府官员一直在推动采取措施，鼓励国内外芯片制造商在美国建更多的厂。由于近来的芯片短缺，民共两党在7月通过了《芯片与科学法案》，提供总额达520亿美元的一揽子补贴，为此类工厂的建设提供更多资金。 |
| Chip makers have responded with announcements of major factory projects, including by Intel in Ohio, Micron Technology in New York and Samsung Electronics in Texas. But the most coveted producer these days is TSMC, whose founder, Morris Chang, in 1987 pioneered the concept of manufacturing chips for other companies that design them. |
| 芯片制造商随后纷纷宣布了大型建厂项目，包括在俄亥俄州建厂的英特尔，在纽约州建厂的美光科技，以及在得克萨斯州建厂的三星电子。但台积电才是当下的香饽饽，其创始人张忠谋在1987年就开创了为设计芯片的公司制造芯片的理念。 |
| Mr. Chang, 91, previously questioned the feasibility of TSMC expanding in the United States, but he appeared at the event in Phoenix — held in front of a huge flag proclaiming “A Future Made in America” — to endorse the expansion, seemingly bowing to the inevitable rise of domestic chip production. |
| 现年91岁的张忠谋此前曾质疑台积电在美国建厂的可行性，但他也参加了菲尼克斯的典礼，站在一面写着“美国制造未来”的巨大旗帜前为扩建背书，看来已经在顺应美国国内芯片生产崛起的大势。 |
| “Globalization is almost dead,” Mr. Chang said. “Free trade is almost dead.” He said that he had long dreamed of building semiconductor factories in the United States, but that his first attempt in the late 1990s, a site in Washington State called WaferTech, had turned into a “nightmare.” With this Phoenix project, he said, “we are far more prepared.” |
| “全球化行将就木，”他说。“自由贸易几近灭绝。”他说自己一直梦想在美国建立半导体工厂，但上世纪90年代末的首次尝试——在华盛顿州打造的WaferTech工厂——变成的一场“噩梦”。至于菲尼克斯的建厂项目，他说：“我们的准备要充分得多。” |
| TSMC is by far the world’s biggest “foundry,” as the industry calls such services, and has lately boasted the most advanced manufacturing technology. Besides Apple, its big customers include Amazon, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. |
| 台积电是远远领先的全球最大芯片代工厂——也就是业内所谓的“foundry”——近来还宣称掌握了最先进的制造工艺。除了苹果，该公司的大客户还包括亚马逊、高通、英伟达和超微半导体。 |
| Those companies haven’t publicly expressed worries about the concentration of chip manufacturing in Taiwan, which faces risks associated with earthquakes and droughts in addition to China’s claims. But the presence of senior executives from several of the companies at Tuesday’s event suggests strong support for having more key components for their products manufactured close to home. |
| 这些企业尚未公开表示对芯片制造集中在台湾的担忧，除了中国的领土主张外，这里还面临地震和干旱的相关风险。但在周二的活动上，其中几家企业高层的出席表明了它们强烈支持在美国本土生产更多关键的产品零部件。 |
| Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo raised concerns about reliance on overseas production at Tuesday’s event. |
| 商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多在周二的活动中表达了对依赖海外生产的担忧。 |
| “Right now in the United States, we don’t really make any of the world’s most sophisticated, bleeding-edge, cutting-edge chips,” she said. “That’s a national security issue, a national security vulnerability. Today, we say we’re changing that.” |
| “目前在美国，我们并不能真正造出全球最精密、最尖端先进的芯片，”她说。“这是国家安全的问题，是国家安全的弱点。今天，我们要说，我们正在改变这一情况。” |
| The expansion plan in Phoenix shows customer pressure is having greater sway over TSMC, which had long argued that concentrating production in giant “gigafabs” in Taiwan was most efficient, analysts and industry executives said. |
| 分析人士和业内高管表示，在菲尼克斯的扩建计划表明，来自客户的压力对台积电影响更大，长期以来，该公司都声称将生产集中在台湾的巨型“超大晶圆厂”(gigafab)才最为高效。 |
| TSMC relaxed that stance somewhat in 2020 by agreeing to open the factory in Phoenix. But the company set a limit on the factory’s level of production technology, which is rated by measuring how small a company can make key parts of individual transistors on a chip. The smaller those dimensions — measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter — the more transistors can be packed on a piece of silicon. |
| 台积电到2020年稍稍松口，同意在菲尼克斯开设工厂。但该公司对新厂的生产工艺水平进行了限制，这种水平是通过衡量一家公司在芯片上能制造多小的单个晶体管关键部件来评定的。尺寸越小——以纳米（即一米的十亿分之一）为单位——一块硅片上可以封装的晶体管就越多。在新的规划中，这家工厂将升级使用苹果率先采用的四纳米工艺。台积电表示，预计在2026年投入运营的第二家美国工厂将有能力制造三纳米芯片。 |
| The company originally set the technology level at the Phoenix site at five nanometers. That was an advance over most chips in 2020, but behind the level that TSMC would produce in Taiwan in 2024, when the U.S. factory is set to open. The new plan would upgrade the factory to also use four-nanometer technology, which Apple was first to adopt. The second factory, expected to begin operating in 2026, will be able to produce three-nanometer chips, TSMC said. |
| 公司原本给菲尼克斯工厂设定的工艺水平是五纳米。在2020年，这是领先绝大多数芯片的水平，但比2024年台积电将在台湾生产的水平要低，而美国工厂预计将在那一年开始运行。新计划将对工厂升级，同样使用四纳米技术，苹果公司将是第一个采纳者。台积电说第二家工厂预计于2026年开始运行，将可以生产三纳米芯片。 |
| Intel, which hopes to introduce its own new production processes over the next two years, took issue with TSMC’s suggestions that its technology in Arizona will be the most advanced in the United States in 2024. |
| 对于台积电称其亚利桑那工厂的工艺水平将在2024年达到美国最先进的说法，准备在未来两年内推出新生产工艺的英特尔有不同意见。 |
| “I would disagree with that point of view,” said Ann Kelleher, the executive vice president who heads Intel’s manufacturing technology development. |
| “我不认同这种观点，”负责英特尔制造工艺研发的执行副总裁安·凯莱赫表示。 |
| State and local officials in Arizona have already agreed to offer financial incentives for the first phase of TSMC’s construction, and the company is expected to apply for federal grants for both phases under the CHIPS Act. |
| 亚利桑那州政府及其地方官员已经同意为台积电第一阶段的建设提供财政支持，该公司预计将会根据《芯片与科学法案》申请两阶段的联邦拨款。 |
| The new TSMC factories couldn’t by themselves fulfill U.S. demands for advanced chips. Handel Jones, an analyst who heads International Business Strategies, said TSMC’s factories in Taiwan would still be needed, both because of their production capacity and because they will be making more advanced technology by 2026. |
| 新的台积电工厂本身并不能满足美国对先进芯片的需求。国际商业战略首席执行官兼分析师韩德尔·琼斯表示，台积电的台湾工厂仍然必不可少，一方面因为它们的产能，另一方面则因为他们将在2026年拿出更先进的工艺水平。 |
| TSMC operates four factories in Taiwan that each can process up to 100,000 semiconductor wafers each month. In Arizona, TSMC initially said the first factory could process 20,000 wafers a month. It now estimates that the two factories’ combined output will be 50,000 a month, or 600,000 a year. |
| 台积电在台湾有四家工厂，每家都能实现每月最多加工10万片半导体晶圆。对于亚利桑那工厂，台积电最初表示，首家工厂每月可加工两万片晶圆。现在，两家工厂的每月总产量预计能达到5万片，即每年60万片。 |
| But even relatively small operations in the United States can become important, industry executives said, particularly for individual customers like Apple or for the production of particularly crucial chips in emergencies. |
| 但业内高管表示，即便其美国生产规模相对较小，但仍可能发挥重要作用，尤其是对苹果这样的客户个体，或是紧急生产特别关键的芯片的情况。 |
| By adding more advanced production technology in the United States, TSMC “would help address vulnerabilities associated with the shortage of semiconductors evident over the past few years,” said Bob LeFort, president of the U.S. arm of Infineon, a big German chip maker. |
| 德国大型芯片制造商英飞凌美国分部总裁鲍勃·勒福特表示，通过为美国带来更多先进制造工艺，台积电“将有助于解决过去几年半导体短缺相关的薄弱环节”。 |
| TSMC’s move is also a sign that the CHIPS Act is having an impact on the plans of big companies, helping to not only spur their spending but galvanize investments by companies that supply them with production tools and materials. |
| 台积电此举也表明，《芯片与科学法案》正在影响大型企业的规划，不仅能够刺激其投入，还能鼓励为其提供生产工具和材料的企业进行投资。 |
| “This sends the right signal for the whole ecosystem to do more,” said Raj Jammy, chief technologist at Mitre Engenuity, a nonprofit technology foundation. “It’s a step in the right direction.” |
| “这向整个生态系统发出了正确的信号，鼓励他们拿出更多行动，”非营利性技术基金会Mitre Engenuity的首席技术专家拉吉·贾米说。“这是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。” |
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