TSMC Arizona packaging plant

TSMC says it plans to open an advanced chip-packaging plant in Arizona by 2029, adding a key production step to its U.S. campus. (reuters.com) The company told Reuters the site will handle CoWoS and three-dimensional integrated circuit, or 3D-IC, packaging, two methods used to assemble high-end artificial intelligence chips. Reuters reported the plant would let TSMC keep more of the manufacturing flow in the United States instead of sending chips back to Taiwan for final assembly. (reuters.com) Packaging is the stage where finished silicon is connected, stacked, and wired so it can work inside a server or phone. TSMC says CoWoS links multiple chips on a shared base, while its 3D fabric technologies stack chips vertically to increase computing density. (tsmc.com) TSMC’s Arizona site already includes one fab in volume production, a second fab with structure completed in 2025 and production targeted for the second half of 2027, and a third fab that broke ground in April 2025. TSMC’s Arizona page also says the broader plan includes six fabs, two advanced packaging facilities, and an research-and-development center. (tsmc.com) The new packaging timetable fills in a missing piece in that buildout. Companies such as Apple and Nvidia already buy chips made at TSMC’s Arizona fab, but Reuters reported many of those chips still need to be shipped to Taiwan for packaging. (reuters.com) Amkor, which packages and tests chips for other companies, has been building a separate advanced-packaging campus in Peoria, Arizona. In 2024, Amkor and TSMC said TSMC would use Amkor’s Arizona plant for turnkey advanced packaging and test services for customers using TSMC’s Phoenix fabs. (amkor.com) Apple said in November 2023 that it would be the first and largest customer of Amkor’s Peoria facility, and that the plant would package Apple silicon made at the nearby TSMC fab. Amkor later said the Arizona campus had grown to a planned $7 billion investment, with construction expected to finish in mid-2027 and production to begin in early 2028. (apple.com, azcommerce.com) Demand for this step has surged with artificial intelligence chips. CNBC reported on April 8 that Nvidia had reserved most of TSMC’s most advanced packaging capacity, and a TSMC executive said CoWoS demand was growing at an 80% compound annual rate. (cnbc.com) For Arizona, that means the state is moving beyond wafer fabrication into the last, bottlenecked stage before chips reach customers. For TSMC, the next marker is whether the company gives a construction start date and customer mix for the 2029 packaging plant. (tsmc.com, reuters.com)