TSMC to Begin 4nm Production in the US in 2024... 3nm in 2026

U.S. President Joe Biden (center) is touring the construction site of a computer chip factory being built by Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, in Phoenix, Arizona, together with TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin (right) and CEO C.C. Wei. [Image source=Yonhap News]

TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company based in Taiwan, announced that it will start producing 4nm and 3nm semiconductor chips at its U.S. Arizona plant in 2024 and 2026, respectively.

According to Taiwanese media such as Liberty Times and China Times on the same day, TSMC explained this plan at the equipment installation ceremony at its Arizona plant in the U.S. state of Arizona on the 6th (local time).

TSMC plans to produce 4nm semiconductor chips at the first phase fab in Arizona and 3nm semiconductor chips at the second phase fab. Once the second fab is completed, the annual wafer production capacity is expected to exceed 600,000 units. The total investment for the two fabs amounts to $40 billion (approximately 52.7 trillion KRW).

In addition to the current 10,000 construction workers, TSMC plans to directly employ 4,500 people at the second phase fab, marking the largest direct investment in Arizona's history and the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history.

TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin stated that the goal of the Arizona plant is to operate the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process technology in the U.S. to "realize next-generation high-performance and low-power computing products over the coming years."

The event was attended by U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su, TSMC founder Morris Chang, TSMC Chairman Liu Deyin, and TSMC CEO Wei Zhejia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.