TSMC says has begun construction at its Arizona chip factory site

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) has started construction at a site in Arizona where it plans to spend $12 billion to build a computer chip factory, said its chief executive.  CEO C.C. Wei said at the company’s annual technology presentation to clients and investors that the planned factory remains on track to start volume production of chips using the company’s 5-nanometer production technology starting in 2024. This was held online for the second consecutive year.

TSMC is expected to be one of several companies, including Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, competing for some of the $54 billion in subsidies for the chip industry that advanced in the United States Senate last week. Nearly six factories were planned to build in Arizona site by the TSMC.

It is one of the world’s biggest manufacturer of semiconductors on contract. They have taken center-stage in the global supply chain equation amid a worldwide shortage of chips that is hurting industries from automobiles to consumer electronics. Since this pandemic its shares have soared. The company has announced in April a $100 billion investment plan over the next three years. This is to increase the capacity at its factories. Wei reiterated that number that includes $30 billion in spending this year, at the presentation.

Wei said that TSMC’s next generation of 3-nanometer chipmaking technology remains on track to start volume production at the company’s “Fab 18” factory in Tainan, Taiwan, in the second half of next year. This new offering is unlikely to alleviate the current chip shortages because the shortages are of less advanced chips.