TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.) has secured government subsidies for a planned $12 billion U.S. chip plant to be built in Arizona. The new plant is designed to allay U.S. national security concerns and shift high-tech manufacturing to America.
TSMC, the main chipmaker to Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., has picked a site for the future plant and both federal and state governments have agreed to help make up for the higher cost of fabricating semiconductors in the U.S., Chairman Mark Liu told reporters Tuesday. Negotiations continue over the specifics of those incentives, he said without elaborating or identifying the site’s location.
The decision to situate a plant in Arizona came after White House officials warned about the threat inherent in having much of the world’s electronics made outside of the U.S. TSMC had negotiated a deal with the administration to create American jobs and produce sensitive components domestically for national security reasons. It announced the project just before Washington leveled new restrictions on the sale of chips to Huawei, seeking to contain one of TSMC’s largest customers.
TSMC has set aside land adjacent to its selected plot and hopes to convince its own suppliers to set up operations in the vicinity over time, Liu added.
MacDailyNews Note: According to various reports, the location of TSMC’s new $12 billion U.S. plant will be in the Phoenix area.