TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TSMC is reportedly accelerating the construction of its third chip plant as US President Donald Trump signals tariffs on semiconductors are coming soon.
On Friday, the US temporarily halted plans to impose tariffs on electronics like laptops and smartphones, but the semiconductor industry could be next in line. Sources say TSMC is accelerating the pace of building its US factories to avoid potentially heavy chip tariffs, per UDN.
TSMC is set to hold its earnings call on Thursday. While the market is focused on last quarter’s results and the outlook ahead, attention is also on the progress of TSMC’s expansion of facilities in the US.
Although tariffs are on hold for now, Trump on Sunday said he would announce a tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, per Reuters. The semiconductor supply chain has been working swiftly on expanding US-based manufacturing, with TSMC moving the fastest, with its previously announced US$3.25 trillion (US$100 billion) investment expected to be pushed forward at an accelerated pace.
TSMC has reportedly asked its supply chain to speed up efforts to build US facilities in response to customer demands. The company’s third wafer fab in Arizona, Fab 21p, is expected to break ground in June, at least one year ahead of the original internal schedule.
Industry sources indicate that firms handling the facilities engineering for TSMC’s Arizona plants, such as Marketech International and United Integrated Services, have begun coordinating with shipping and air freight companies to transport cleanroom infrastructure, chemical pipelines, and other fab essentials to the US. The objective is to complete foundation construction by the end of this year and then initiate the build-out of fab facilities.
Industry experts said that TSMC plans to invest NT$5.36 trillion in the US, which includes advanced process fabs, such as 2nm and the even more cutting-edge A16 process, and advanced packaging technologies such as CoWoS and SoIC.
