Following the opening of its first U.S. plant in Arizona in 2024, Apple’s chipmaker TSMC is now ahead of schedule on two new factories. According to a report from Nikkei Asia, the plants might be ready “several quarters” earlier than expected.
These factories will be responsible for making older Apple chips, such as the A16 and other Apple Watch processors, which could be used in existing and upcoming Apple products, such as HomePod, Apple Watch, Studio Display, and iPhone models. Meanwhile, TSMC’s third plant is expected to produce 2nm chips, targeting volume production by the end of the decade. Apple is expected to adopt this technology by next year for the M6 and A19 Pro chips.
Besides that, TSMC has also committed to an additional $100 billion investment to build five more factories in Arizona, including two specific packaging plants and its most advanced chip production of 2 nanometers and better.
“After completion, around 30% of our 2-nanometer and more advanced [chip] capacity will be located in Arizona, creating an independent, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing cluster in the U.S.,” TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei told investors this week.
These advanced chip packaging facilities and an R&D center will “complete the AI supply chain.” Apple and NVIDIA are among the first customers of TSMC’s current Arizona plants, and they will likely continue to take advantage of new plants as they become fully operational.
For Apple, specifically, this could help the company manufacture some U.S.-made products, such as the Mac Pro. For a future generation, Apple could even claim it is using Made in America processors, which is more of a PR move than a good deal financially.
While the 2-nanometer chips are a few years away from being made in the U.S., TSMC plans to bring the 3nm technology to its U.S. factories in the near future, which means the A17 Pro, the A18 family, and the M3, M4, and M5 chips could be produced at a smaller scale in the U.S.
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