TSMC Reportedly Pursuing Second U.S. Plant in Texas Following Arizona

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, is reportedly pushing to build a wafer fab in Texas following its facility in Arizona.

Citing sources, Taiwan media outlets including the Commercial Times reported on the 29th that TSMC is expanding its investments in the United States to support the soaring demand from major clients such as artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor leaders Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and Apple.

The sources explained that TSMC is prioritizing the Dallas area in Texas as the candidate site for its second U.S. wafer fab.

TSMC plans to build a "Southern Semiconductor Dual-Core Corridor" linking its wafer manufacturing operations in Arizona with the advanced ecosystem in Texas.

This move aims not only to meet the demand of major clients but also to diversify geopolitical risks and overcome domestic limitations in Taiwan, such as land availability, water resources, and power supply.

Additionally, with U.S. clients accounting for 75.64% of TSMC's revenue in the first half of this year, the strategy is designed to evade pressure from the U.S. administration under Donald Trump for domestic manufacturing investments and the risks of high tariff impositions.

Another source noted that Dallas and the North Texas region are dubbed the "Silicon Prairie"—akin to "Silicon Valley" near San Francisco, California. With companies like Texas Instruments (TI), Samsung Electronics, and Tesla already investing locally, TSMC establishing a plant there would create a massive cluster effect and satisfy the U.S. government's demands for supply chain localization.

However, TSMC has not released an official statement regarding the plan, and a final investment decision has not yet been approved by its board of directors.

Previously, TSMC announced plans to build up to 10 wafer fabs, two packaging facilities, and one research and development (R&D) center in Phoenix to cope with robust demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC).

Meanwhile, VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC)—a joint venture between Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), an affiliate of TSMC, and major Dutch semiconductor firm NXP—held an opening ceremony for its first 12-inch wafer fab in Singapore the previous day.

The plant is scheduled to begin production of 40- to 130-nanometer (nm) process products for automotive mixed-signal, power management, and analog applications starting in 2027, with monthly wafer production targeted to reach 55,000 sheets by 2029.

VIS invested 2.4 billion dollars (approx. 3.3 trillion won) and NXP invested 1.6 billion dollars (approx. 2.2 trillion won) into the plant, which will be managed by Vanguard.

VSMC is also considering the construction of a second semiconductor plant in Singapore.

Leveraging relatively low tax rates and geographical proximity to China—the world's largest semiconductor consumer—Singapore has recently attracted a string of massive semiconductor investments, emerging as a hub for legacy semiconductor manufacturing.

(Photo: Captured from Taiwan Central News Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.