TSMC has reportedly started production of Apple's iPhone chips in its Arizona foundry, with the first to be made in America set to be the A16.
A TSMC office sign
The TSMC foundry in Arizona has been under construction for years, with planning for the project dating back to 2020. After four years, the facility is now allegedly operational and has started to make chips for Apple.
According to sources of Tim Culpan, Phase 1 of TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona is making the A16 SoC of the iPhone 14 Pro in "small, but significant, numbers. The production is largely a test for the facility at this stage, but more production is expected in the coming months.
The volume will ramp up massively once the second stage of the Phase 1 fab actually concludes. If everything stays on schedule, the Arizona plant will hit a target for production sometime in the first half of 2025.
The chips being made are said to be using the same N4P process that is used to make the A16 in TSMC's Taiwan facilities. It is considered an enhanced version of a 5-nanometer process rather than a 4-nanometer production.
"The Arizona project is proceeding as planned with good progress," a TSMC spokeswoman told Culpan, but they stopped short of naming Apple as the first client being produced at the location.
Sources say TSMC is achieving yields that are marginally behind those of Taiwan-based factories. Yield parity is expected to happen within months.
The production is important for chip manufacturing in the United States, in part due to how much TSMC received from the U.S. government. Aside from its original $12 billion investment in the plant dating back to 2020, it also won a $6.6 billion subsidy from the U.S. Commerce Department, as part of the CHIPS for America Fund.
TSMC has also raised its investment and moved to build additional plants in Arizona, with three set to be constructed in total. The U.S. Commerce Department previously claimed this will create 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs, on top of an estimated 20,000 construction jobs.