President Trump's visit to Arizona last week we now know was much more than touring Honeywell's mask manufacturing facility.
Apple Insider is now reporting Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is set to announce plans to build an advanced chip factory in Arizona. Taiwan-based TSMC is the world's largest contract manufacturer of silicon chipsets and has long been Apple's primary supplier of A-series chips.
Now, TSMC will be announcing Friday its new plans to build out an advanced 5-nanometer facility in Arizona, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The decision, reached by TSMC executives at a board meeting in Taiwan on Tuesday, could be announced as soon as Friday Bloomberg reported. Taiwan’s largest company did confirm on Friday it’s locating its next major fabrication facility in Arizona, a victory for a Trump administration that’s pushed for more high-tech manufacturing to return to the U.S. TSMC had negotiated a deal with the administration to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S. to create jobs and produce sensitive components domestically for national security reasons, according to people familiar with the situation and reported by Bloomberg.
Construction is planned to begin in 2021 and production is targeted to begin in 2024, the company said. Upon completion, the facility will crank out 20,000 wafers a month and create 1,600 jobs sources told the WSJ, adding that the U.S. departments of State and Commerce were involved in the plans. It's currently unclear if the company will receive financial incentives from the U.S., though a factory producing 5nm chips could cost more than $10 billion.
Apple is expected to move to 5nm processors with "iPhone 12" this year, later expanding utilization to other products like iPad and, for the first time, the Mac lineup.
News of the plans come as the U.S. grows more concerned about its reliance on supply chain infrastructure in Taiwan, China and South Korea for electronics and technology production.
On Monday, the Trump Administration was said to be discussing the possibility of building out chip fabrication plants in the U.S. with companies like TSMC and Intel.
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