The largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company LtdTSM, prepared for another multibillion-dollar factory investment in Arizona, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The leading Apple IncAAPL supplier plans to announce building a cutting-edge semiconductor plant north of Phoenix beside another chip factory that the company committed to in 2020.
The scale of the investment will likely be similar to the $12 billion it committed two years ago.
TSMC’s move follows Washington’s plans to provide semiconductor makers lucrative grants to bring advanced manufacturing back to American soil.
TSMC’s new facility would manufacture so-called 3-nm transistors, some of the tiniest and lightning-fast possible.
Demand for some chips has cratered following two years of pandemic-fueled demand.
Many chip companies, including TSMC, have cut back on near-term capital-spending plans and reined costs to cope with the downturn.
The report noted that despite the near-term industry gloom, chip executives still expect global sales to double to over $1 trillion a year in the next decade, underpinning considerable investments in manufacturing capacity.
Factory-building incentives are also helping their spending plans in the U.S. and Europe.
TSMC plans to hold a ceremony in Arizona in December to install the first batch of production equipment in the plant it announced two years ago. TSMC said back then that it would produce 5-nm chips there.
TSMC is now ready to produce more advanced 4-nm chips with larger capacity at the facility. The plant will likely start mass production in 2024.
The U.S. and its allies have grown concerned about the concentration of advanced chip-making in TSMC’s homeland of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
