Definition: TSMC

(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, Ltd. Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan) With more than 60,000 employees, TSMC is the largest "pure-play" semiconductor fab in the world, which means it manufactures the chips from its customers' designs. See fab.

Founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC was the first company dedicated to making chips for "fabless" chip companies. For example, it makes chips for Apple, AMD, Qualcomm and NVIDIA. TSMC was also first to produce state-of-the-art five-nanometer chips and will likely be the first in future generations (see process technology). See foundry, EUV machine, GlobalFoundries and fabless semiconductor company.

A $60 Billion Investment in Arizona
TSMC had the above photos taken in October 2022 where it is building three chip fabs in North Phoenix, Arizona and expects to employ 6,000 people. The goal is to have the first fab operational in 2025. Given the uncertainty surrounding China's perpetual threat to take over Taiwan, the company's Arizona investment seems a prudent move for the U.S. tech sector.

However, TSMC employees in Taiwan work harder and more hours than their American counterparts, thus causing issues when new American hires are trained in Taiwan. In addition, this technology is the most complex in the world and setting up these plants is an enormous undertaking, and in a foreign country no less (America).

The Chip Capital of America
Phoenix, Arizona may become the "Chip Capital of America" because TSMC is adding a huge boost to what is already a semiconductor neighborhood. Two major chip companies, Intel and Microchip, have been in the area since the 1980s, and Intel is also building another plant. Over the decades, a local support system has grown in the area for machine parts and logistics. Schools continue to add classes to support the industry, and some colleges are building mock clean rooms so students can learn what it is really like to work in this environment (see clean room).