TSMC triples Arizona chip factory investment to $40 billion

Before the first Arizona TSMC fab opens its doors in 2024, the company has already committed to building a second — and has announced that it will spend $40 billion on it.

TSMC originally committed $12 billion to build an Arizona-based semiconductor fabrication plant in 2020, which was already a record investment for the company outside of Taiwan. After delays related to COVID 19 and labor shortages, TSMC expects to begin manufacturing on schedule in early 2024.

A December 6 update from TSMC confirmed that the first Arizona plant would begin production of N4 process technology in 2024, and the company has started construction of a second fab. This fab would focus on production of 3nm process technology in 2026.

TSMC had allegedly been planning to build up to six total fabs by 2024, but this is the first official announcement from TSMC about expanding beyond a single fab. Moving from one fab to two will increase the expected total wafer output to 600,000 per year.

This expansion to two fabs increases TSMC's commitment from $12 billion to $40 billion in Arizona. The project is expected to bring 10,000 high-paying tech jobs, including 4,500 direct TSMC jobs.

"When complete, TSMC Arizona aims to be the greenest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the United States, producing the most advanced semiconductor process technology in the country, enabling next-generation high-performance and low-power computing products for years to come," said TSMC Chairman Dr. Mark Liu. "We are thankful for the continual collaboration that has brought us here and are pleased to work with our partners in the United States to serve as a base for semiconductor innovation."

TSMC and Apple have a symbiotic relationship where both companies are highly invested in the other's success. Apple's custom processors like the M1 and M2 are fabricated by TSMC, and development is performed in close collaboration.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that the new Arizona plants will provide at least some of Apple's chip supply.

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6 Comments

king editor the grate 662 comments · 15 Years

About 1 year ago

How many processors can 600,000 wafers yield?

(Mmm. Wafers.)

melgross 33607 comments · 20 Years

king editor the grate said:

How many processors can 600,000 wafers yield?

(Mmm. Wafers.)

It depends on the chip size. Anywhere from around 50 to several hundred.

tht 5595 comments · 23 Years

king editor the grate said:

How many processors can 600,000 wafers yield?

(Mmm. Wafers.)

TSMC uses 300mm diameter wafers, which is about 70000 square millimeters. An Apple phone SoC is about 90 sq mm. An Apple Mac SoC is about 120 sq mm. Using 100 sq mm per SoC, that equates to 700 SoC chips per wafer. Not all chips are functional coming off the wafer, and assuming yield percentages are on order 90% -Lower at the start, higher after a few years - there's about 600 usable chips at 100 sq mm.

600,000 wafers, presumably per year here, is 360 million SoC chips at 100 sq mm. Quantities get exponential worse as the chips get bigger. Ie, a 200 sq mm chip won't be a straight linear decrease to 180 million chips. It may be only 100 million usable chips of that size. It will be a bigger decrease a 400 sq mm chip.

welshdog 1897 comments · 22 Years

Those giant buldings in Arizona's extreme heat - what massive air cooling costs they must experience. Are they using solar or something to green up their production?

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

FjordCruiser said:

Bring it on - the sooner the better more parts used in iPhones are sourced in the U.S.A. the better… Hopefully one day we’ll see the box that iPhone & Apple Watch comes in emblazoned with “DESIGNED IN CALIFORNIA - ASSEMBLED IN THE U.S.A. USING PARTS PRODUCED IN THE U.S.A.. (I’ll not be holding my breath though…)

The news today is saying that the processors from the Arizona plant will not include either A or M-series. Those will continue to come from outside the country. The plant will make some chips for Apple, but not the ones we were hoping.