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TSMC’s Arizona project began as a plan for one 5nm fab, but it has since grown into a multi-fab campus with a different first-fab process and a longer-term roadmap extending to 2nm-class technology. Fab 1 is now making 4nm chips: TSMC says it entered volume production in the fourth quarter of 2024. The later fabs remain on future schedules.

What TSMC announced in 2020

On May 15, 2020, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced a single advanced semiconductor fab in Arizona. The original plan specified 5nm wafer fabrication, construction beginning in 2021, and production targeted for 2024. TSMC projected capacity of 20,000 semiconductor wafers per month and more than 1,600 direct high-tech professional jobs, as well as thousands of indirect jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem.

Those figures describe the initial project announcement—not the present-day size or schedule of the Arizona campus.

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How the Arizona plan changed

TSMC expanded the proposal in stages. Its December 2022 update described two fabs, while the U.S. Department of Commerce’s April 2024 announcement covered three. The process nodes and dates below reflect those successive announcements; planned schedules are not the same as completed production.

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May 2020, TSMC One fab using 5nm technology Construction planned for 2021; production targeted for 2024; planned capacity of 20,000 wafers per month
December 2022, TSMC Fab 1 scheduled for N4; a second fab planned for 3nm Fab 1 production scheduled for 2024 and the second fab for 2026. The two fabs were projected to produce more than 600,000 wafers per year combined and support more than US$40 billion in end-product value.
April 2024, U.S. Department of Commerce Fab 1: 4nm FinFET; Fab 2: 3nm as well as 2nm nanosheet technology; Fab 3: 2nm or more advanced technology, depending on customer demand At full capacity, the three fabs were expected to manufacture tens of millions of leading-edge chips for products including smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and AI data-center servers.
Reported status and schedule Fab 1 supports 4nm and 5nm FinFET processes; the later-fab roadmap includes 2nm-class technology TSMC reports Fab 1 entered 4nm volume production in Q4 2024. NIST lists Fab 2 for the second half of 2027 and Fab 3 by the end of the decade.

Is TSMC still building a 5nm fab in Arizona?

The 5nm fab was the technology in the original 2020 announcement. The project that followed is broader: TSMC’s 2024 annual report says Fab 1 entered volume production of 4nm technology in Q4 2024, and the company’s Arizona project page also reports N4 high-volume production beginning that quarter. NIST’s project profile describes Fab 1 as supporting both 4nm and 5nm FinFET processes, while the Department of Commerce’s 2024 description identifies its production technology as 4nm FinFET.

These descriptions refer to different aspects of the project and use different production milestones. The available announcements establish that Arizona’s first fab is producing 4nm and supports 5nm processes; they do not establish that the original stand-alone 5nm proposal proceeded unchanged.

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What are the production dates for the Arizona fabs?

Fab 1

TSMC’s 2024 annual report records 4nm volume production beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024. NIST’s project profile lists high-volume production in the first half of 2025. Because the sources describe the milestone differently, it is useful to retain their exact wording rather than treat the dates as identical.

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Fab 2

NIST lists the second fab’s high-volume production target as the second half of 2027. The Department of Commerce’s 2024 terms announcement describes the fab as intended for 3nm as well as 2nm nanosheet technology, an expanded plan compared with the 3nm fab described in TSMC’s December 2022 update.

Fab 3 and later plans

NIST lists Fab 3 for the end of the decade. The Commerce announcement says its process will be 2nm or more advanced, depending on customer demand. In July 2026, TSMC’s Arizona page said the company had announced an intent to build several additional fabs for 2nm-and-below technologies and advanced packaging. That is an announced intention, not a production date or evidence that those additional fabs are already operating.

How much is TSMC investing in Arizona?

TSMC’s current Arizona project page describes a US$165 billion investment plan, grown from the US$12 billion plan announced in 2020. Separately, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s April 2024 terms announcement proposed up to US$6.6 billion in direct CHIPS Act funding. The first figure is the company’s stated campus investment plan; the second is proposed federal direct funding, not the total project investment.

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Why the expansion matters

The project’s significance is not just the process node at one fab. The original announcement paired manufacturing capacity with direct and indirect employment, and later plans added facilities for progressively more advanced processes. The Commerce Department framed the three-fab expansion as a source of leading-edge chips for areas including phones, autonomous vehicles, and AI data centers, while the proposed CHIPS Act support tied the project to U.S. semiconductor manufacturing policy.

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For readers tracking the project, separate three things: the original 5nm proposal, the operating status TSMC reports for Fab 1, and the still-future schedules for the later fabs. Treating them as one unchanged project obscures how much the Arizona plan has expanded and evolved.

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