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Investing.com-- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) (TSMC) said on Tuesday it had broken ground on a third chip fabrication facility in Phoenix, Arizona, as part of a major push in U.S.-based investment and manufacturing.
The move coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to TSMC’s Arizona facilities, who lauded the firm’s push to invest in local manufacturing.
TSMC Chair and CEO, C.C. Wei, called TSMC’s Arizona operations the “largest single foreign direct investment in U.S. history.” The company has pledged to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, bringing its total investment in the country to $165 billion.
A bulk of this has been directed chiefly towards TSMC’s operations in Arizona, where the company began manufacturing advanced chips in 2024. TSMC plans to build out two more fabrication plants in Arizona.
TSMC’s push for more U.S. manufacturing appeared to be largely aimed at placating U.S. officials, specifically President Donald Trump, who have been clamoring for more investment in the United States.
Increased American manufacturing capacity will help TSMC duck Trump’s steep trade tariffs, with the President having also threatened to tariff semiconductor imports.
TSMC’s additional $100 billion investment is expected to create 40,000 construction jobs in Arizona over the next four years, and will also create “tens of thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs, and drive over $200 billion in indirect output across Arizona in the coming decade,” the U.S. Department of Commerce said in a statement.
TSMC is the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, and is a key supplier to tech majors such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Increased U.S. production will also help TSMC’s American customers avoid the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
“As TSMC Arizona’s first and largest customer, we’re excited for the future of American innovation and the incredible opportunities it will create,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement carried by the commerce department.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also lauded the new facility, as did AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su.