TSMC in Phoenix is making microchips

The CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. gave a new vote of confidence to the company’s fabs or factories in Arizona and announced the start of the chip-manufacturing process here.

C.C. Wei expressed confidence by saying that once the company begins commercial production of semiconductors at the north Phoenix site, “we will be able to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability in each of our fabs in Arizona, as from our fabs in Taiwan.”

The comments came during an April 18 conference call when TSMC said it posted a 12.9% revenue increase for the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The company earned the equivalent of $1.38 a share on $18.9 billion in revenue from January through March. Wei cited strong demand for high-powered computing and artificial intelligence applications.

“Given the strong HPC and AI-related demand, it is strategically important for TSMC to expand our global manufacturing footprint to continue to support our U.S. customers’ growth, increase customer trust and expand our future growth potential,” he said.

The company’s first fab in Arizona this month has made “significant progress” and entered “engineering wafer production,” a precursor to high-volume commercial production, using 4-nanometer technology. The company remains on track for commercial production to begin at this facility during the first half of 2025.

Smaller semiconductor measurements, expressed in nanometers, allow for more computing power in the same space. Wei said the second Arizona fab has been upgraded to utilize more advanced 2-nanometer technology along with 3-nanometer, as was previously announced.

TSMC recently marked a “topping off” milestone in which the last steel construction beam was raised into place on the second Phoenix fab, with commercial production at that facility scheduled to begin in 2028.

“We also recently announced plans to build a third fab in Arizona, utilizing 2-nanometer or more advanced technologies, with production beginning by the end of the decade,” Wei added.

During the most recent quarter, TSMC derived 65% of its semiconductor-wafer revenue, made at fabs in Taiwan and elsewhere, from products of three, five or seven nanometers. The company considers 7 nanometers or less as advanced technology.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: They are starting to make microchips at TSMC in Phoenix