Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.(TSMC) announced Wednesday it has acquired a second plot of land in Arizona comparable in size to its existing campus there, as the world's largest contract chipmaker moves to secure long-term capacity ahead of what it sees as a decade of sustained demand for artificial intelligence chips.
Chairman and President C.C. Wei (魏哲家) made the disclosure to reporters following TSMC's annual shareholder meeting in Hsinchu, describing the Arizona operation as performing better than the company had originally projected — and signaling that the pace of AI-driven orders has forced it to think further out than originally planned.
Arizona Progress Outpaces Expectations
Wei said the Arizona site was advancing "even better than originally expected," prompting the company to begin planning the next phase of growth there sooner than anticipated. The newly acquired parcel is roughly equivalent in size to the current Arizona campus and is intended to preserve land for development well into the future, he said.
The existing Arizona landholding was already large enough to accommodate five to six additional fabrication plants, Wei acknowledged — but customer demand, especially from AI-related orders, has compelled management to plan further ahead. "We have to think about capacity needs ten years from now," he told reporters, adding with a touch of self-deprecation that he had once assumed he would be retired by then.
AI Boom Drives Parallel U.S.-Taiwan Strategy
Wei said customer demand in recent years had grown faster than the company forecast, and that AI-related orders this year in particular had expanded at an exceptional pace. TSMC's U.S. strategy is straightforward, he said: continue adding domestic production capacity to meet both customer requirements and expectations from the American government.
He was careful, however, to push back against any suggestion that growth in the United States signals a retreat from Taiwan. "Taiwan is where we build fastest and most efficiently," Wei said. TSMC's ten-year capacity roadmap will advance on both fronts simultaneously, calibrated to customer orders and end-market conditions.
"Expanding in the U.S. does not mean we stop building in Taiwan," Wei said. The island remains TSMC's primary base for research, development, and high-volume manufacturing, he emphasized.
Kaohsiung 2nm Campus Set for Accelerated Expansion
Wei also offered fresh detail on TSMC's 2-nanometer cluster in the Nanzi district of Kaohsiung. The facility, commonly referred to externally as "Fab 22," is in fact an entire campus rather than a single plant, he clarified. Construction of the first two phases, P1 and P2, is already under way, and the company is aiming to accelerate work on P3, P4, and P5.
He acknowledged that actual progress depends on workplace safety compliance and the availability of construction workers — both of which remain constraints. "If safety standards are not met, we do not proceed," Wei said. Each expansion decision is demand-driven, he stressed, but the company continuously monitors customer requirements and market conditions to ensure every capital expenditure delivers maximum returns. （Related： Taiwan's Ennostar, TSMC Bet on Micro LED to Power Nvidia's AI Clusters ｜ Latest ）
