Apple manufacturing partner TSMC plans to build a second plant in Arizona

Apple manufacturing partner TSMC plans to build another fabrication plant in Arizona alongside the US$12 billion factory it has already committed to in Phoenix, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The article says the scale of the investment is expected to roughly match that of the $12 billion it committed to the previously announced Phoenix factory. The second plant is expected to manufacture next-generation 3nm chips, a process that Apple is rumored to be moving its custom silicon to starting with the M2 Pro or M3 chip. 

TSMC recently a “topping-out” ceremony for its first Arizona plant in July. The company is moving equipment into the site. The plant will utilize TSMC’s 5-nanometer technology for semiconductor wafer fabrication, have a 20,000 semiconductor wafer per month capacity, create over 1,600 high-tech professional jobs directly, and thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem.