TSMC and Amkor Technology have locked in a 10-year memorandum of understanding to build out advanced semiconductor packaging and test services in Peoria, Arizona. The deal pairs TSMC’s wafer fabrication capabilities with Amkor’s back-end packaging expertise, creating something closer to a full domestic chip supply chain than anything the US currently has.
What the deal actually covers
The MoU, originally signed on October 4, 2024, focuses on co-locating advanced packaging operations near TSMC’s Phoenix-area wafer fabrication plant. The logic is straightforward: chips get made at TSMC’s fab, then travel a short distance to Amkor’s facility for packaging and testing, instead of being shipped across the Pacific.
The collaboration targets several of TSMC’s most advanced packaging technologies, including Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) and Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS). These are the packaging methods that power the most demanding applications in AI, high-performance computing, automotive systems, and mobile devices.
CoWoS in particular has been a bottleneck technology. It’s the packaging method used in Nvidia’s most advanced AI accelerators, and global demand has consistently outstripped supply.
