Taiwan chip maker TSMC has begun construction at its Arizona factory site

TSMC’s new chip fabrication plant in Phoenix, Arizona, is on track to start volume production of advanced semiconductors from 2024
The world’s largest contract manufacturer of semiconductors plans to build as many as six factories at the Arizona site

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)

Reuters

Published: 2:27pm, 2 Jun 2021

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has started construction at a site in Phoenix, Arizona, where it plans to spend US$12 billion to build a chip fabrication facility, the firm’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

Speaking at TSMC’s annual technology presentation to clients and investors, held online for the second straight year because of the pandemic, chief executive C C Wei said the planned factory remains on track to begin volume production of semiconductors using the company’s 5-nanometre production technology from 2024.

TSMC is expected to be one of several companies, including Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics, competing for some of the US$54 billion in subsidies for the chip industry that advanced in the US Senate last week.

Reuters previously reported that TSMC, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of semiconductors, plans to build as many as six factories at the Arizona site over a 10- to 15-year span.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chief executive C C Wei says the firm’s new fabrication facility in Arizona will bring much-needed production capacity to meet growing demand from its clients. Photo: Reuters

TSMC has taken centre stage in the global supply chain equation amid a worldwide shortage of chips that is hurting industries from cars to consumer electronics.

Its shares have soared since the Covid-19 pandemic began, making it Asia’s most valuable manufacturing company with a market capitalisation of US$563 billion, more than twice that of Intel’s.

TSMC announced in April a US$100 billion investment plan over the next three years to increase capacity at its factories. Wei reiterated that number, which will include US$30 billion in spending this year, at the presentation.

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“That will give us enough manufacturing capacity to support the growth of our clients,” Wei said.

He also said the company has developed a version of its 5-nm chip making process certified for use by carmakers for advanced applications like artificial intelligence, though the new offering is unlikely to alleviate the current shortfall because the shortages are of less advanced chips.

He said TSMC’s next-generation 3-nm chip making technology remains on track to start volume production at the company’s Fab 18 plant in Tainan, Taiwan, in the second half of next year.

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