Image by Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
On Tuesday this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook attested that Apple will purchase U.S. manufactured chips by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC) at an event in Arizona, and he tweeted that Apple would be the “site’s largest customer.”
“And now, thanks to the hard work of so many people, these chips can be proudly stamped Made in America,” Cook said. “This is an incredibly significant moment.”
These chip factories will be owned and operated by TSMC, the biggest chip manufacturer with more than 50 percent of the global market share. It produces the most advanced processors used in most of the Apple products tier, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
According to some analysts, once these plants are installed and fully operated, they will produce 600,000 wafers per year, which is enough to meet U.S. annual demand.
Also on Tuesday, TSMC expressed that it would invest $40 billion on these two Arizona factories, and estimated that the first plant is to produce chips in 2024 and the second one will open in 2026.
The plants will be capable of manufacturing the 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer chips that are applied for advanced processors such as Apple’s A-series and M-series and Nvidia’s graphics processors.
After the announcement, AMD CEO Lisa Su also delivered remarks that AMD plans to be a significant user of the TSMC Arizona fabs.
