Apple supplier TSMC is in advance talks to set up its first European plant

Apple supplier TSMC is in advanced talks with key suppliers about setting up its first potential European plant in the German city of Dresden, reports The Financial Times (a subscription is required to read the entire article).

The article says the Taiwanese company is sending a team of senior execs to Germany early next year. The trip will be the second in six months by TSMC executives and a final decision on whether to invest billions of dollars in a plant, which could begin construction as early as 2024, is expected to follow soon after, according to The Financial Times.

On Nov. 9 TSMC announced 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 said 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.