TSMC To Invest A Further $100 Billion In Arizona

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TSMC plans to invest $100 billion in the US to build three new fabs, two new advanced packaging facilities and establish an R&D centre, all in Arizona
During the press conference at the White House, Mr Wei received fulsome praise from President Trump and was careful to thank him for his vision and support on multiple occasions
The announcement lacked key details such as construction timelines and which process technologies would be deployed but it would still appear to have done the trick, at least for now.

Detail

This morning, TSMC announced plans to invest $100 billion in Arizona, press release here and YouTube replay here. It makes for compelling watching coming as it does after weeks of speculation about the company having a role to play in helping Intel Foundry restore semiconductor process leadership.
As it turned out, Intel merited just a single mention in the ten minute long event, and that was basically President Trump bemoaning the loss of US market share for advanced semiconductors because of Intel.

Presumably, this now puts an end to the prior speculation surrounding a TSMC-Intel tie up, a situation we never found to be credible as we discussed here: Intel. What’s Really Going On?

“Debate about Intel’s future has reached fever pitch over the past week. Reports from usually reputable outlets indicate everything from Broadcom in a possible deal to acquire Intel’s Chip Design division (Bloomberg) to TSMC eyeing up Intel’s fabs (Wall Street Journal)”

“That there should be moves afoot in the corridors of Intel’s headquarters, Robert Noyce Building in Santa Clara should not be surprising. The company faces an existential threat and lacks a permanent CEO. However, much of what is being rumoured is implausible or at best unlikely.”

So what exactly was said during the press conference and what does it all mean for TSMC? Let’s dig in….

The Press Release
The press release was uploaded to TSMC’s website shortly after the oval office press conference. It begins with the high level details:

“HSINCHU, Taiwan, R.O.C. Mar. 4, 2025 – TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced its intention to expand its investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States by an additional $100 billion. Building on the company’s ongoing $65 billion investment in its advanced semiconductor manufacturing operations in Phoenix, Arizona, TSMC’s total investment in the U.S. is expected to reach US$165 billion. The expansion includes plans for three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities and a major R&D team center, solidifying this project as the largest single foreign direct investment in U.S. history.”

Back in April 2024, TSMC had already announced that they were building a third fab in Arizona on the back of CHIPs Act funding from the then US Administration, details here.

So this latest announcement is a major step up in TSMC’s commitment to manufacturing in the US. The advanced packaging facilities will be the company’s first in the US as, up to now, they’ve relied on a joint venture with Amkor for packaging, details here. It’s unclear whether they will continue to partner with Amkor once they have their own packaging facilities in Arizona. I assume not.

After some marketing blurb e.g. creating 40,000 high paying jobs in Arizona, the press release then gets down to the serious business of honouring & thanking President Trump for his “vision and support” back in 2020:

“Back in 2020, thanks to President Trump’s vision and support, we embarked on our journey of establishing advanced chip manufacturing in the United States. This vision is now a reality,” said TSMC Chairman and CEO Dr. C.C. Wei. “AI is reshaping our daily lives and semiconductor technology is the foundation for new capabilities and applications. With the success of our first fab in Arizona, along with needed government support and strong customer partnerships, we intend to expand our U.S. semiconductor manufacturing investment by an additional $100 billion, bringing our total planned investment to $165 billion.”

The press release finishes up by highlighting how TSMC is going to strengthen the US semiconductor ecosystem:

TSMC’s Arizona fab currently employs more than 3,000 people on 1,100 acres of land in Arizona. The site has been in volume production since late 2024. This expansion will play a crucial role in strengthening the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem by increasing American production of advanced semiconductor technology. It will also complete the domestic AI supply chain with TSMC’s first U.S. advanced packaging investments.

Interestingly, the press release makes no mention whatsoever of timelines for this $100 billion investment. I wonder why not? Equally interesting was the fact that there were no references to which process nodes TSMC will commit to bring to the US, and when. I assume they will continue their practice of bringing the most advanced nodes up first in Taiwan and transferring them 1-2 years later once they have reached mature yields.

The White House Press Conference

Mr Trump begins by paying tribute to Mr. Wei, calling him a legend and saying that it was an honour to be with him:

If you that are into that world (semiconductors) uh you would say wow he’s a legend but he is a legend and it’s an honor to be with you very great honor thank you very much Mr Wei

I feel quite sure that Mr Wei would have approached the press conference with some trepidation given how things worked out for President Zelenskyy last week. On that basis, I think he would have been very relieved to hear President Trump’s opening remarks.

In his usual style, President Trump went on to call TSMC “ the biggest there is at a level, that uh you can’t even calculate frankly” before going on to introduce Howard Lutnick (commerce secretary) and “White House Crypto Czar”, David Sachs. Technically, Mr Sachs is supposed to be the “A.I & Crypto Czar”, but I guess the AI part is taking a back seat to the crypto part at the moment 🙂

Luckily, President Trump remembered to bring up the AI angle as he continued his monologue

most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America and it’ll be a big percentage of the chips made by his company

There was a rather awkward moment when the President started referring to TSMC as a monopoly and calling it the most powerful company in the World, but luckily for Mr Wei, he stopped talking at that point and handed the podium over to him, jokingly saying that he should speak before Lutnick and Sachs “because right now he’s the most important man in the room”

as you know Taiwan pretty much has a monopoly on that market and I think pretty much is not a term that’s even appropriate they do have a monopoly and this is a tremendous move by the most powerful company in the world it’s a matter of economic Security it’s also a matter of national security for us…

As Mr. Wei took centre stage he claimed to be feeling “a bit nervous” as he unfolded a page of speaking notes he took from. As he began speaking, I prayed for his sake that his distinctive Taiwan accent wouldn’t elicit from the President the reaction he had to an Indian reporter some weeks ago. Luckily, this was not to be the case.

Mr. Wei went to great lengths to thank the President on multiple occasions, even taking care to turn towards him when so doing. He went on to announce that the company is already making the “most advanced chips on US soil” in Arizona. There’s an important subtlety here. TSMC’s not making the world’s most advanced chips on US soil, that happens in Taiwan.

Next up was Mr. Lutnick. He started out in a nice way, again praising the President’s vision to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US and also praising TSMC. Then, he dropped the T-bomb, Tariffs, stating that the reason TSMC was investing so heavily in the US was so they could avoid paying them. To his credit, Mr. Wei didn’t flinch, he maintained a poker face set to “just keep smiling a little bit” and with that it was over to Mr. Sachs. This is basically what he said:

uh well the the products that tsmc makes are literally uh the most important products in the world I mean these Advanced chips power everything they power AI they power your phone they power your cars and uh without them the whole modern economy would stop but they’re not made in the United States so for tsmc to move here is a huge huge development and we owe that to president Trump’s leadership on the economy and sec lotnik as well and CC thank you for for coming here

If you just joined the press conference when Mr. Sach started to speak, you could be forgiven for thinking that TSMC had just announced that they were relocating from Taiwan to the US.

Closing Thoughts

Kudos to TSMC and Chairman Wei for pulling this off. I honestly don’t think the press conference could have gone any better for him. He got the respect he deserves, he’s navigated some pretty choppy waters and now he’s got TSMC firmly established as the champion of US semiconductor technology leadership for many years to come. What could possibly go wrong now? Let’s see….

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Originally Posted March 4, 2025 – TSMC To Invest A Further $100 Billion In Arizona