TSMC denies reports of explosion at Arizona fab

Taipei, May 16 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on Thursday denied reports that an explosion had taken place at its facility in north Phoenix, Arizona Wednesday afternoon (U.S. time), saying instead an accident that resulted in a worker being injured had occurred.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said the accident took place Wednesday afternoon after an abnormality occurred in a waste sulfuric acid removal tank that was entering the Arizona wafer plant.

The truck driver inspecting it was injured by a pop-up valve during the process.

There was no explosion or fire onsite, and the accident did not affect the factory equipment or pipelines, the company said.

The driver was hospitalized following the accident and fire authorities are investigating the incident, the company added.

TSMC said the incident did not affect operations at the plant or the progress of its facility expansion project.

TSMC Arizona's first fab began wafer production in April and is on track to begin production using the 4nm technology in the first half of 2025, according to the company.

The chipmaker was responding to a report from ABC15 Arizona, a local media outlet in Phoenix, which claimed at least one person had been seriously injured following reports of an explosion at the TSMC chip plant at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday (local time).

However, ABC15 said it was working to learn more due to the extremely limited available information about the incident.