Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (contract semiconductor manufacturing) corporations, is said to plan mass production of 3-nanometer (nm; one-billionth of a meter) process products at its second Arizona plant around 2027.
On the 19th, Taiwan media including China Times, citing sources, reported this regarding the plan for construction and product production at the second Arizona plant that TSMC Chair Wei Zhejia disclosed at an earnings briefing in Oct.
The source said construction of the second Arizona plant is progressing faster than expected and that equipment move-in is scheduled between July and Sept. next year.
Wei said it usually takes about a year from equipment move-in and installation through certification of various processes to production, and noted the mass production timeline will be moved up by about a year to 2027 from the original 2028.
Another source added that this timeline will be a significant milestone for TSMC's push to set up advanced overseas plants and aligns with Chair Wei's goal of accelerating production in the United States.
TSMC said, "With strong cooperation and support from major U.S. clients and local government, we are continuously accelerating the expansion of production capacity at the Arizona plant," and added, "We are seeing clear progress and things are proceeding as expected."
Earlier in Oct., Chair Wei said that to address growing demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI), the company would purchase land near the Phoenix 21 fab (semiconductor manufacturing plant) in Arizona and move to expand production facilities.
He then emphasized plans to build a gigafab, an ultra-large semiconductor plant capable of producing more than 100,000 wafers a month, on this site in the future.
Taiwan media recently reported that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said TSMC would invest $200 billion (about 295 trillion won) in the United States.
Earlier, TSMC had increased its investment in the United States since 2020 in line with the policies of the former Joe Biden administration and the Trump administration to attract semiconductor production facilities to the United States, and in Mar. this year added $100 billion (about 140 trillion won), raising the total to $165 billion (about 243 trillion won).