TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has begun 4 nm production at its first fab in Arizona.
In an interview published Friday, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters, "For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge four-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan." She added that production had started in recent weeks.
"That's a big deal — never been done before, never in our history," Raimondo said. “And lots of people said it couldn't happen,” she added.
In April last year, TSMC agreed to boost its investments by US$25 billion (NT$826 billion), bringing the total investment in Arizona to US$65 billion, and announced plans to build a third fab in the state by 2030.
In 2022, Congress allocated US$52.7 billion for chip manufacturing subsidies and tax credits. As part of this program, the Commerce Department convinced all five leading-edge semiconductor manufacturers to build plants in the US, according to Raimondo.
Raimondo previously told Reuters that the Commerce Department had to persuade TSMC to expand its investment plans in the US, “It didn’t happen on its own... We had to convince TSMC that they would want to expand,” she said.
The report also noted that TSMC will manufacture 2 nm chips at its second Arizona plant, with production anticipated to start in 2028. TSMC also agreed to use its cutting-edge A16 chip manufacturing technology in Arizona.