Apple chip supplier TSMC announced a $100 billion increase in its chip investment in the United States, bringing its total commitment to $265 billion.
The increase was confirmed by the White House and the Department of Commerce alongside TSMC’s second-quarter earnings call. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the investment would “create tens of thousands of American jobs,” while TSMC Chairman and CEO CC Wei told CNBC the new manufacturing plants would support “our core U.S. customers,” a group that would include Apple, alongside Nvidia and Broadcom.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called Apple “TSMC Arizona’s first and largest customer” when the company’s third manufacturing plant in Arizona started up last year, and the company’s first plant in Arizona has already produced some of Apple’s A16 chips.
TSMC has historically reserved its most advanced manufacturing processes for its factories in Taiwan, meaning that chips made in Arizona lag generations behind what Apple is shipping at any given time. TSMC has since committed to building its own advanced packaging facilities in the United States as part of its broader investment plan, according to a regulatory filing.
The new $100 billion is expected to fund up to four additional factories, although the exact form of the plan remains unclear. The Commerce Department says the total will reach 12 U.S. facilities, while an official said Bloomberg the eventual mix could include 10 manufacturing plants and two packaging facilities, focused on 2-nanometer chips, TSMC’s most advanced process commercially available today.
That timing could depend in part on how much U.S. capacity Apple will need, since the company has separately explored Intel and Samsung as backup chipmakers to reduce its reliance on TSMC amid the ongoing global chip crisis. Apple reportedly won an exemption from a proposed 100% tariff on semiconductors, in part by pledging its own manufacturing investment in the United States and agreeing to buy chips from Intel.
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