Taiwanese chip maker TSMC will more than triple its investment in Phoenix, Arizona from $12bn announced in 2020 to $40bn by adding a second factory (called a “fab”) to produce 3nm process technology starting in 2026.
It said the $40bn was the biggest foreign direct investment in Arizona’s history and one of the biggest in US history.
Its first fab in Phoenix is scheduled to start producing N4 process technology in 2024. Construction of the second has begun.
Some 10,000 workers will build the fabs, it said.
TSMC said it is planning a water reclamation plant for the Phoenix site, allowing it to achieve “near zero liquid discharge”.
US President Joe Biden addressed a ceremony to greet the first batch of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to arrive at the site.
He noted that until the 1990s the US made over 30% of semiconductors worldwide, but that an overseas exodus had reduced that proportion to 10%.
Now, manufacturers are coming back, he said, noting Micron’s $100bn investment in Syracuse, New York, Intel’s $20bn investment in Ohio, and IBM’s $20bn investment in Poughkeepsie, New York.
“Folks, as we see here in Phoenix, the United States is a top destination for companies across the globe looking to make investments because we have a world-class, highly skilled, committed workforce — union labour,” he said.
