Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (contract semiconductor manufacturing) company, has secured additional land near its plant in Arizona in the United States to prepare for a surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
On the 5th, according to Taiwanese media including the China Times and the United Daily News, TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia said at a shareholders meeting held in Hsinchu, Taiwan, the previous day that "we have secured additional land of the same size as the existing purchased site near 21 Fab (semiconductor fabrication plant) in Phoenix, Arizona."
Wei said, "As major customers move aggressively to invest, demand for AI-related chips is growing much faster than expected," adding, "I believe we will be able to fully support industry expansion needs over the next 10 years." However, Wei added, "In the long term, land and production facilities for future plant construction will still be insufficient."
TSMC's expansion of overseas investment is decisively driven by customer demand, the company explained. Wei said, "The key to deciding whether to purchase overseas sites is customer demand," adding, "Construction of the Arizona plant is proceeding very smoothly at present."
Even so, Wei pointed out several practical hurdles in the process of expanding local production in the United States. Citing emissions regulations on air pollution, securing power and water, and a shortage of construction labor, Wei said, "In particular, support from the U.S. Congress is needed to resolve the labor shortage."
Wei assessed that the pace of growth in the AI market is far outstripping industry expectations. "TSMC has never slowed the pace of capacity expansion so far," Wei said, adding, "Thanks to structural demand driven by the massive wave of AI, advanced nodes account for 74% of total production value."
However, Wei cited supply chain bottlenecks in power, semiconductors, materials, and advanced packaging as the biggest challenges the industry currently faces. Wei said, "This is not a problem that TSMC alone can solve."
Wei also announced a plan to increase the size of the board of directors from the current 10 members to 12. "We will prioritize selecting talent who can help the company's development, regardless of gender or nationality," Wei said.
Meanwhile, regarding recent visits to Korea by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Wei said it was "because memory is needed," adding, "Korea is the world's largest memory producer, and TSMC is the largest manufacturer of logic chips."
On assessments that Korea is benchmarking Taiwan's semiconductor supply chain model, Wei expressed confidence, saying, "As long as TSMC is in Taiwan, Taiwan's semiconductor industry will continue to lead."