TSMC announces additional US$100 billion investment in Arizona

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) announced Thursday that the chipmaker will invest an additional US$100 billion in Arizona to expand its advanced chipmaking and packaging capacity.

The investment will bring TSMC's planned Arizona investment to US$265 billion and is expected to include four additional wafer fabs as well as advanced packaging facilities, Wei said at the company's second-quarter earnings conference.

The new fabs will produce chips using 2-nanometer and more advanced processes to meet strong multiyear demand from TSMC's leading American customers, according to Wei.

When asked whether the money would be invested over the next three or five years, Wei declined to give a firm timetable.

"The progress or the schedule, most of the time, depends on the market situation and our customers' demand," Wei said.

TSMC has a plan and will proceed "as fast as possible" to narrow what Wei described as a wide gap between supply and demand, he added.

Thursday's announcement came about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly said TSMC was doubling the size of its chipmaking operations in Arizona and that Taiwanese chipmakers were increasing their U.S. investments.

"They're building in Arizona, and they just announced they're going to double the size," Trump was quoted as saying by Fox Business on July 1.

TSMC had not publicly confirmed any additional investment at the time, and neither Wei nor Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang (黃仁昭) referred to Trump's remarks during Thursday's conference.

"With strong collaboration and support from our leading U.S. customers and the U.S. federal, state and city governments, we would like to announce an additional US$100 billion investment in Arizona," Wei said.

The expansion will help develop the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem, strengthen supply chains and create more high-paying technology jobs, he added.

TSMC separately raised its 2026 capital expenditure budget to US$60 billion-US$64 billion, up from its previous forecast of US$52 billion-US$56 billion.

Huang attributed the increase to continued structural demand, including demand generated by the emerging agentic AI market.

Around 70-80 percent of this year's capital spending will go toward advanced process technologies, with approximately 10 percent allocated to specialty technologies and 10-20 percent earmarked for advanced packaging, testing, photomasks and other purposes, Huang said.

TSMC also plans to add three 3-nanometer fabs -- one each in Taiwan, Arizona and Japan -- and is converting some 5-nanometer equipment in Taiwan to support 3-nanometer production.

Despite its overseas expansion, TSMC plans to build 13 leading-edge and advanced packaging fabs in Taiwan over the next several years, Wei said.

Responding to Trump's remarks earlier this month, Economics Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said any additional overseas expansion should be confirmed by TSMC itself. He also maintained that Taiwan would remain central to the company's manufacturing operations.