TSMC looks to double down on U.S. chip factories as talks in Europe falter
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is weighing plans to pump tens of billions of dollars more into cutting-edge chip factories in the U.S. state of Arizona than it had previously disclosed, but is cool on prospects for an advanced European plant, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
TSMC is the world’s most advanced chip-maker, and its investment plans are being closely watched amid a global chip shortage and new initiatives in the U.S. and Europe to subsidize semiconductor production. TSMC announced last year that it would invest $10 billion to $12 billion to build a chip factory in Phoenix.
Reuters this month reported that the previously disclosed factory could be the first of up to six planned plants at the site. Now, company officials are debating whether the next plant should be a more advanced facility that can make chips with so-called 3-nanometer chipmaking technology compared to the slower, less-efficient 5-nanometer technology used for the first factory.
The more advanced 3-nanometer plant could cost $23 billion to $25 billion, one person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Details of TSMC’s plans for the additional factories at the Arizona site have not been previously reported.
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