The world’s largest pure-play foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), is apparently ahead of schedule on its third semiconductor fab in its Arizona campus.
According to a report from Economic News Daily, the third fab at its Arizona location could enter mass production as early as 2027, an entire year ahead of the original schedule.
The move comes as the U.S. government is increasingly putting pressure on TSMC and Taiwan to move semiconductor production to the U.S. It also indicates the budding demand for 2 nm advanced processing nodes, which the three fabs in Arizona will run.
The report said that by moving faster in Arizona, TSMC hopes to ease geopolitical tensions and decrease the risk of tariffs with the U.S. Despite these new fabs coming online, the bulk of TSMC’s production will remain in Taiwan. Something that might be a bone of contention for the Trump Administration.
No 50/50 production deal
While TSMC is currently investing more than $165 billion in its Arizona facilities, Taiwan has rejected any deal with the U.S. for half of all semiconductor production to take place domestically in the U.S.
The country’s top tariff negotiator, Cheng Li-chiun, told news outlets that it would not agree to the 50-50 split in making semiconductors as suggested by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
"Our negotiating team has never made any commitment to a 50-50 split on chips,” Li-chiun said to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. “Rest assured, we did not discuss this issue during this round of talks, nor would we agree to such conditions.”
While Taiwan is home to the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC, it also houses a variety of other foundries and chipmakers including:
- Hon Hai (Foxconn)
- MediaTek
- United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC)
- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Technology (ASE)
- Wistron
- Quanta Computing
Intel investment?
Rumors once again swirl that Intel is seeking investment from TSMC to help with its financial woes and semiconductor manufacturing goals.
In February of 2025, a report from the Wall Street Journal that TSMC was being pressured by the U.S. government to invest in a joint venture with Intel for chipmaking. However, it was unclear how this deal would shake out.
Now, it appears the rumor has Intel approaching TSMC for investment. This comes after the American chipmaker and budding foundry received $2 billion in financial investment from SoftBank and the U.S. government took a 10% stake in the company in exchange for CHIPS and Science Act funding.
As with most of these rumors, specifically Intel rumors, take it with a grain of salt until something official emerges.
