TSMC speeds up chip factory expansion in Phoenix
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The TSMC facility in Phoenix in 2023. Photo: Caitlin O'Hara for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is speeding up manufacturing at its massive north Phoenix campus and may accelerate the production schedule for more facilities, the company announced Thursday.
Why it matters: TSMC is expanding its Phoenix footprint, expediting already ambitious plans and cementing Arizona's status as a national semiconductor hub.
- TSMC's Arizona facility is part of its grand plan to diversify semiconductor manufacturing away from Taiwan's political volatility and to support a bipartisan U.S. national security push to increase domestic chips production and accelerate the AI economy.
State of play: In a quarterly earnings call, TSMC chairman and CEO CC Wei announced the company will increase production of the silicon disks used to make computer chips at the second of its six planned factories, known as fabs.
- Fab 2 will manufacture the company's 3-nanometer chips.
- TSMC also might ramp up the production schedule at its third fab — which broke ground in April — due to strong AI demand.
What they're saying: "We are seeing strong interest from our leading U.S. customers and are working on speeding up the volume production schedule by several quarters to support their need," Wei said.
- TSMC produces chips for tech giants including Apple and Nvidia.
Catch up quick: The company announced at its last quarterly earnings call in April it will produce 30% of its most advanced chips in Arizona once all six fabs are operational.
- Production at the first fab began in late 2024, and its output is now comparable to TSMC's fabs in Taiwan, Wei said.
- TSMC is also planning two advanced packaging facilities and a research-and-development site in Arizona, which, combined with the six fabs, will constitute a "gigafab cluster" in the state to produce technology for smartphones, AI and high-performance computing.
- The company announced in March it would invest an additional $100 billion in U.S. production, on top of the existing $65 billion commitment in Arizona.
By the numbers: TSMC's revenue in the second quarter of 2025 was about $30 billion, a nearly 18% increase from the previous quarter, and up more than 44% from the same period last year.
- The company reported record profits last quarter, with income of about $13.5 billion.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that TSMC announced in March it would invest $100 billion in U.S. production on top of its existing $65 billion (not million) commitment in Arizona.