By Jane Lanhee Lee
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC on Tuesday estimated annual revenue of $10 billion when its two planned chips fabrication plants open in Arizona.
TSMC said Tuesday it was more than tripling its planned investment in the factories to $40 billion. The first fab will be operational by 2024 while the second facility nearby will produce advanced chips by 2026. U.S. President Joe Biden and others, including the CEOs of major TSMC customers, are attending a “tool-in” ceremony for the symbolic moving of the first equipment onto the shop floor of the new $12 billion facility.
“When completed with both fabs, we will manufacture over 600,000 wafers a year, representing 10 billion yearly revenue and with our customers product sales over $40 billion a year,” said TSMC Chief Executive Mark Liu.
The projects will result in 31,000 construction jobs and “create an additional 13,000 high pay high tech jobs including the 4,500 direct TSMC employees,” Liu added.
Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, all major TSMC customers, said they expected their chips to be made in the new Arizona plants.
“We work with TSMC to manufacture the chips that help power our products all over the world. And we look forward to expanding this work in the years to come as TSMC forms new and deeper roots in America,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
“AMD expects to be a big customer, of both fabs and we’re committed to working closely with TSMC and the entire ecosystem,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su.
At least a dozen major cranes are still set up around the first factory which is dubbed Fab 21. The factory is in the northern part of Phoenix, surrounded by brown hills and empty land.
With the new TSMC factory in the backdrop with the flag and a drape reading “A Future Made in America Phoenix, AZ,” TSMC executives led by founder Morris Chang, 91, along with CEOs of key machine suppliers and Apple, Nvidia and AMD, toasted the factory opening with sparkling wine.
(Reporting by Jane Lee; Writing by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang)
