TSMC to build 5nm chip factory in the United States

The Taiwanese chip foundation TSMC has confirmed that it will build a semiconductor factory in the US state of Arizona. The factory will focus on the 5nm production of chips and that should start in 2024.

Construction of the new TSMC chip facility in Arizona will start in 2021. The company aims to start 5nm production there in 2024 and the factory will eventually have to process 20,000 wafers per month. The commissioning of the new fab will create 1,600 jobs in the tech sector, as well as thousands of indirect jobs, according to TSMC.

TSMC does not yet have a chip factory in the US under its own name, but there is a fab of subsidiary WaferTech in Camas, Washington. In addition, TSMC has design departments in Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. TSMC’s main fabs are currently located in Taiwan and China. It produces 7nm chips for AMD and Apple, among others.

The arrival of the chip factory is a boost for the US government, which is lobbying chip manufacturers to allow more production on US territory to be less dependent on Asia. Intel has also been approached to start more chip factories in the US.