TSMC announced on Tuesday that the site it is building in this southwestern US state will be larger than originally planned.

There will be two factories instead of one, tripling the amount of its investment, increasing it from 12 billion to 40 billion dollars.

Production is supposed to start there by 2024 for the first, by 2026 for the second.

In total, the Taiwanese company plans to create "10,000 well-paid jobs in high technology", including 4,500 directly at TMSC.

Once operational, the two factories will produce more than 600,000 wafers per year (“wafers” in technical jargon).

This “major milestone” is “the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona history and it is one of the largest in United States history,” adviser Brian Deese told reporters. of the White House for economic matters.

Joe Biden will speak at the TSMC site, joined by high-ranking political figures and big business executives, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, TSMC founder Morris Chang and Micron boss Sanjay Mehrotra.

Brian Deese, White House economic adviser, in Washington, August 3, 2022 © MANDEL NGAN / AFP/Archives

The Democratic president will tout his plan for semiconductors, the CHIPS Act, which provides nearly $53 billion for subsidies and research in the microchip sector.

This message is crucial in Arizona, a state long dominated by Republicans but which has become a battleground where Democrats are regaining ground.

The initial announcement, by TSMC, of ​​the construction of a factory in Arizona, dates back to May 2020, under the presidency of Republican Donald Trump.

Reduce dependency

Most of the supply of the United States in semiconductors comes from companies located in allied countries in Asia but the remoteness of the producers, as well as the geopolitical tensions around Taiwan, push Washington to reduce its dependence.

“Virtually every big tech company, including auto companies and every company that uses technology, is worried that something is happening between Taiwan and China,” notes analyst Rob Enderle.

“So there is a massive rush to move manufacturing out of those two countries,” he adds.

Building a semiconductor site takes several years.

But once TSMC's two factories are up and running, they "could meet all of America's demand for the most advanced chips," said Ronnie Chatterji, deputy director of the National Economic Council for Industrial Policy.

A TSMC Group factory on March 25, 2021 in Taichung.

© Sam Yeh / AFP/Archives

"That's the definition of supply chain resilience," he continued.

Mr. Deese, one of Joe Biden's most experienced advisers, told him that the White House was centering its message around the revival of American industrial strategy.

For nearly four decades, the government has played a secondary role, content to cut taxes for big business to attract investment, Deese said.

Mr. Biden's policy – ​​both with the CHIPS Act, and a law on reducing inflation – is to use public money to attract private investment.

The objective is not to exclude "private companies, but on the contrary, to encourage private investment at historic levels", defended Mr. Deese.

© 2022 AFP