TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) fab trial production yields in Arizona have surpassed those in Taiwan, Bloomberg reported on Friday (Oct. 25).

TSMC’s US Division President Rick Cassidy said the Phoenix facility is producing about 4% more usable chips than “comparable facilities” in Taiwan, according to the report. Cassidy's remark comes after Bloomberg reported in September that trial operations at the Arizona factory had produced yields equivalent to Taiwan factories.

A spokesperson for TSMC declined to comment on the remark, and referred to comments made by the company’s Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) last week. “Our first fab entered engineering wafer production in April with 4-nanometer process technology, and the result is highly satisfactory, with a very good yield,” Wei said.

“This is an important operational milestone for TSMC and our customers, demonstrating TSMC’s strong manufacturing capability and execution.”

“We now expect volume production of our first fab to start in the beginning of 2025, and are confident to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability from our fab in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan,” he said.

TSMC plans to establish three plants in Arizona. They are expected to begin mass production in the first half of 2025, 2028, and between 2029 and 2030.

The company plans to invest US$65 billion (NT$2.084 trillion) in the three factories, and has invested US$7.5 billion into the Arizona project in 2024 alone.