TSMC ramps US, Japan bets

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is pouring more money into Arizona and pushing a Japan plant to 3-nanometer chips as artificial intelligence orders keep climbing. (reuters.com) On March 4, 2025, the company said it would add $100 billion to its United States plans, lifting its total Arizona investment to $165 billion. The expansion includes three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities and a research and development center. (tsmc.com) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said its first Arizona fab has been in volume production since late 2024, and the site now employs more than 3,000 people on 1,100 acres in Phoenix. The company said the broader buildout is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over four years. (tsmc.com) In Japan, Taiwan’s government approved a shift on April 1, 2026 that lets the company use its 3-nanometer process at a second Kumamoto fab. That plant is scheduled to begin installing equipment and come online in 2028 with capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers a month. (taipeitimes.com) A nanometer label is the industry’s shorthand for how tightly chip features are packed, and smaller numbers usually mean faster, more power-efficient chips. A fab is the factory that etches those circuits onto silicon wafers. (tsmc.com) Packaging is the step after the wafer is made, when separate chips and memory are stacked and wired together so they can work as one system. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said its United States expansion will include its first American advanced packaging investments, aimed at completing more of the artificial intelligence chip supply chain near customers. (tsmc.com) The company’s own filings show how central that packaging business has become. In its 2024 annual report, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said strong demand for leading-edge logic and advanced packaging helped lift revenue to a record. (tsmc.com) The customer list explains the geography. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said the Arizona expansion is meant to support companies including Apple, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom and Qualcomm, all major United States chip designers racing to add more artificial intelligence computing capacity. (tsmc.com) The spending is still accelerating. Reuters reported in January 2026 that the company said capital spending could rise as high as $56 billion this year, with more Arizona factories and an advanced packaging plant in the works as customers ask for more capacity. (reuters.com) The next test comes with first-quarter results this week, when investors will look for fresh numbers on profit, packaging bottlenecks and the pace of construction in Arizona and Kumamoto. (reuters.com)