Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which makes Apple’s A-series chips, plans to build an advanced chip factory in Arizona, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plant would make 5-nanometer transistor chips for TSMC, which the company has been testing with customers in Taiwan over the past several months, the report states.
TSMC’s board made the decision to build the plant earlier this week at a meeting in Taiwan and may officially announced the plans as early as Friday, according to the WSJ. The plans call for the factory to begin producing the chips by the end of 2023. It’s not yet clear what financial incentives the company may receive from state or federal government, but the WSJ reports that the State and Commerce departments are involved in the plans. In addition to Apple, TSMC counts Nvidia and Huawei among its clients.
Bloomberg notes that a chip factory is expensive to build; TSMC spent $17 billion on a new plant in Tainan, Taiwan, which is slated to begin production on iPhone components this year. Apple has long been rumored to be working on the production of Macs with its own chips instead of relying on Intel, with one report last month suggesting TSMC would produce the chips based on a 5-nanometer fabrication process, like the Arizona plant would reportedly use.
