TSMC’s massive 2026 capex spend could rise to US$70 billion this year, market seers opine, while the chip giant’s current guide of US$52-$56B is already enough to draw big investments to Taiwan by equipment and materials suppliers, media report. Japan’s JSR joined US equipment supplier Applied Materials in a joint sub-2nm node R&D center. TSMC VP Simon Jang said, “Applied’s tools and JSR’s polishing fluid (slurry) are like the kitchenware and ingredients, while TSMC is the master chef. With a local kitchen, everyone can work together to speed up production.” He said silicon wafers have to be so flat for sub-2nm production, it’s like a baseball field so flat nothing sticks up higher than a strand of hair. Flatness on a wafer must be so precise, it is uniformly less than 1nm across the 12-inch (dinner plate-sized) wafer. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Applied Materials(AMAT.US) #JSR #Japan #semiconductors #semiconductor #Taiwan

Source: Dan Nystedt