Apple chipmaker TSMC had already said that it would build a total of eight plants in Arizona, and has now announced an investment boost that could see that number increased to 12.
This could potentially see more chips for Apple devices made in the US, but there are reasons to be skeptical about this possibility …
TSMC’s Arizona chip plants
It’s almost exactly a year to the day since TSMC said that it would be accelerating the construction of its second and third Arizona plants. Apple was slated to be the first customer of that third facility.
Some had expressed skepticism about how meaningful US chip production would be for Apple devices. That’s in part because TSMC deliberately restricts its most advanced processes to fabrication plants in its own home country of Taiwan. It would be impossible to make chips for the latest Apple devices using any of the planned US plants.
