The Biden administration will award up to $6.6 billion in grants to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the leading maker of the most advanced microchips, in a bid to bring some of the most cutting-edge semiconductor technology to the United States.
拜登政府将向业界领先的先进微芯片制造商台积电提供高达66亿美元的赠款，旨在将一些最尖端的半导体技术引入美国。
The funds, which come from the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, will help support the construction of TSMC’s first major U.S. hub, in Phoenix. The company has already committed to building two plants at the site and will use some of the grant money to build a third factory in Phoenix, U.S. officials said on Sunday. TSMC will also increase its total investments in the United States to more than $65 billion, up from $40 billion.
这笔资金来自两党通过的《芯片与科学法案》，将帮助支持台积电在菲尼克斯建设其在美国的第一个主要枢纽。美国官员周日表示，该公司已承诺在该市建造两座工厂，并将利用部分赠款在菲尼克斯建造第三家工厂。台积电在美国的投资总额也将从400亿美元增至650亿美元以上。
Bringing the world’s most sophisticated chip manufacturing to the United States has been a major goal for the Biden administration. TSMC announced that it would now produce two-nanometer chips at the hub, a significant step forward given that the United States currently produces none of the most advanced semiconductors.
把世界上最先进的芯片制造引入美国，一直是拜登政府的一个主要目标。台积电宣布将在该中心生产两纳米芯片，鉴于美国目前不生产最先进的半导体，这是向前迈出的重要一步。
Federal officials view the investment as vital for building up a reliable domestic supply of semiconductors, the small chips that power everything from phones and supercomputers to cars and fighter jets. Although semiconductors were invented in the United States, production has largely shifted overseas in recent decades. Only about 10 percent of the world’s chips are made in the United States.
联邦官员认为，这项投资对于在国内建立可靠的半导体供应至关重要。半导体是一种小型芯片，从手机、超级计算机到汽车和战斗机，各种产品都需要它来提供动力。虽然是在美国发明的，但近几十年来，半导体的生产已基本转移到海外。世界上只有大约10%的芯片是美国制造的。
The award is the second largest by the federal government under a program intended to re-establish the United States as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing. It was unveiled a few weeks after President Biden announced that Intel, another major chipmaker, would receive $8.5 billion in grants and up to $11 billion in loans during a tour of battleground states meant to sell his economic agenda.
这是联邦政府根据一项旨在重建美国半导体制造领导者地位的计划而授予的第二大拨款。就在几周前，拜登总统在各州巡回演讲，推行其经济议程时宣布，另一家主要芯片制造商英特尔将获得85亿美元的赠款和最高可达110亿美元的贷款。
The CHIPS Act, which lawmakers passed in 2022, gave the Commerce Department $39 billion to distribute as subsidies to encourage companies to build and expand chip plants across the United States. The program is a major pillar of Mr. Biden’s economic policy agenda, which is centered on strengthening American manufacturing.
国会于2022年通过的《芯片法案》授权商务部派发390亿美元的补贴，以鼓励企业在美国各地建造和扩建芯片工厂。该计划是拜登以加强美国制造业为核心的经济政策议程的主要支柱。
TSMC’s award will bring the total announced grants to more than $16 billion. Three smaller companies, GlobalFoundries, Microchip Technology and BAE Systems, received the first awards.
台积电获得的赠款标志着已宣布的赠款总额超过了160亿美元。GlobalFoundries、Microchip科技公司和BAE系统公司这三家较小的公司获得了第一批赠款。
In addition to the grants, the federal government will provide up to $5 billion in loans to TSMC. The company is also expected to claim federal tax credits that could cover 25 percent of the cost of building and outfitting factories with production equipment. About $50 million of the grants will be set aside to train and develop the company’s work force, federal officials said.
除此之外，联邦政府还将向台积电提供最高可达50亿美元的贷款。预计该公司还将申请联邦税收抵免，可能涵盖25%的工厂建设和生产设备配备费用。联邦官员说，其中约5000万美元将用于培训和发展该公司的员工队伍。
Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, said the investment would help the United States start manufacturing the most advanced semiconductors, which are used in artificial intelligence, smartphones and the most sensitive military hardware.
商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多表示，这笔投资将帮助美国开始制造最先进的半导体，可用于人工智能、智能手机和最敏感的军事装备。
“It’s a national security problem that we don’t manufacture any of the world’s most sophisticated chips in the United States,” Ms. Raimondo said on Sunday. “Now, because of this announcement, these chips will be made in the United States.”
“如果不在美国制造世界上最先进的芯片，会构成国家安全问题，”雷蒙多于周日说。“现在，由于这项投资，这些芯片将在美国制造。”
Earlier this year, Ms. Raimondo said new investments in semiconductor companies would put the United States on track to produce roughly 20 percent of the world’s most advanced logic chips by the end of the decade.
今年早些时候，雷蒙多表示，对半导体公司的新投资将使美国有望在本十年末生产全球约20%最先进的逻辑芯片。
TSMC’s investment is expected to create about 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction jobs, federal officials said. TSMC will have to meet certain construction and production milestones before payments are made.
联邦官员表示，台积电的投资预计将创造约6000个直接制造业就业岗位，以及超过两万个建筑就业岗位。台积电必须达到某些建设和生产节点才能获得拨款。
The company has been counting on federal aid for years. Talks about a partly subsidized expansion in the United States began in 2019, during the Trump administration, according to company officials. TSMC first announced that it would build a new facility in Phoenix in May 2020, a project that company officials said would eventually require government subsidies to help address the higher cost of building and operating chip plants in the United States.
该公司多年来一直依靠联邦援助。据公司管理者称，关于在美国进行部分补贴扩张的谈判始于2019年特朗普政府执政期间。台积电最初于2020年5月宣布，将在菲尼克斯建造一座新工厂，该公司管理者表示，该项目最终将需要政府补贴，以帮助解决在美国建造和运营芯片工厂成本更高的问题。
In December 2022, several months after the passage of the CHIPS Act, TSMC announced that it would build a second factory at the site, increasing its total investment to $40 billion from $12 billion.
2022年12月，在《芯片法案》通过几个月后，台积电宣布将在该厂区建设第二家工厂，将总投资从120亿美元增加到400亿美元。
But since TSMC started construction in 2021, various stumbling blocks have delayed the start of production. Last summer, TSMC pushed back initial production at its first factory to 2025 from this year, saying local workers lacked expertise in installing some sophisticated equipment. In January, the company said the second plant would not meet its original schedule of beginning manufacturing in 2026.
但自台积电于2021年开始建设以来，各种障碍推迟了投产时间。去年夏天，台积电将第一家工厂的投产时间从今年推迟到2025年，理由是当地工人缺乏安装一些精密设备的专业知识。今年1月，该公司表示，第二家工厂无法按原定计划于2026年投产。
Production at the second facility is expected to begin in 2028, and production at the third factory is expected to start by the end of the decade, according to the Biden administration officials.
拜登政府官员表示，第二座工厂预计将于2028年投产，第三座工厂预计将于2030年之前投产。
TSMC’s expansion in the United States could have an outsize impact on the global supply chain for semiconductors, the vulnerabilities of which were laid bare by crippling chip shortages during the pandemic.
台积电在美国的扩张可能会对全球半导体供应链产生巨大影响，疫情期间严重的芯片短缺暴露了这一供应链的脆弱性。
TSMC, which pioneered the idea of manufacturing chips to order for others that design them, operates massive factories in Taiwan that churn out the vast majority of the small components that supply processing power to computers, phones, networking gear, appliances and military gear. America’s reliance on the company’s factories, on an island that China does not recognize as independent and claims is part of its territory, has long worried U.S. officials.
台积电率先提出了为设计芯片的其他公司定制芯片的理念，该公司在台湾经营着大型工厂，生产绝大多数为电脑、电话、网络设备、电器和军用设备提供处理能力的小型元件。长期以来，美国对该公司工厂的依赖一直令美国官员感到担忧。它们位于一个中国不承认独立、并声称是其领土一部分的岛屿上。
New generations of production technology are often described in terms of nanometers, or billionths of a meter, a measure of key dimensions of microscopic circuitry. In December 2022, TSMC said it would produce three-nanometer chips at its second Arizona factory. It will now also introduce the next generation of technology, at two nanometers, in the second plant, Biden administration officials announced.
新一代的生产技术通常以纳米（10亿分之一米）来描述，这是对微观电路关键尺寸的度量方式。2022年12月，台积电表示将在亚利桑那州的第二家工厂生产三纳米芯片。拜登政府官员宣布，该公司现在还将在第二座工厂引入下一代技术，即两纳米技术。
Such advances determine how many transistors can be packed on each small slice of silicon, which allow chips to perform calculations more quickly and store more data. In the past decade, TSMC supplanted Intel in delivering the most sophisticated production technology, producing components that Apple designs for its latest smartphones and Nvidia develops to power artificial intelligence applications like ChatGPT.
这些进步决定了每一小片硅片上可以装多少个晶体管，从而使芯片能够更快地执行计算并存储更多数据。过去十年里，台积电取代英特尔，提供了最先进的生产技术，生产出苹果为其最新的智能手机设计的元件，英伟达则为ChatGPT等人工智能应用开发芯片。
Though the planned addition of two-nanometer technology represents a substantial advance, that does not necessarily mean that TSMC’s U.S. factories will offer the latest technology at the same time as its factories in Taiwan. The company carries out research on new technologies on the island, and adapting those processes to high-volume manufacturing is typically done first in nearby buildings to speed the transition and reduce travel time for engineers.
虽然计划中加入的两纳米技术代表了一个重大进步，但这并不一定意味着台积电的美国工厂将与台湾工厂同时提供最新技术。该公司在台湾岛内进行新技术的研究，将这些工艺用于大批量生产通常会首先在附近的厂房中完成，以加快过渡，减少工程师的差旅时间。
It remains possible that Intel, which is racing to regain its lead in manufacturing technology, will offer the most advanced production technology in the industry by 2028 at U.S. factories. The company carries out its manufacturing technology research in Oregon.
英特尔正在努力夺回制造技术领域内的领先地位，目前它仍有可能在2028年之前在美国工厂提供业界最先进的生产技术。该公司在俄勒冈州进行制造技术研究。
Biden administration officials are expected to award more grants in the coming months to other big chipmakers that have invested in new or expanded domestic facilities in recent years, including Micron Technology and Samsung.
拜登政府官员预计将在未来几个月向近年来投资新建或扩建国内设施的其他大型芯片制造商提供更多赠款，其中包括美光科技和三星。