The United States Commerce Department today announced it will be providing a large subsidy to Apple chip supplier TSMC to produce more chips in the U.S., according to a report from Bloomberg.
The White House shared a statement explaining that the U.S. Commerce Department will allocate $6.6 billion in grants to TSMC and as much as $5 billion in loans for the advancement of semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. TSMC will also be eligible to claim an investment tax credit of up to 25% of capital expenditures.
The financial assistance is part of a larger initiative under the CHIPS and Science Act, which is an effort to boost domestic production of semiconductors in the United States.
TSMC has already committed to an escalated investment of $25 billion, elevating its total investment to $65 billion. The company’s investment is the largest direct investment by a foreign company in a completely new project in U.S. history.
Apple’s chip supplier has also announced plans to build a third chip fabrication plant in Arizona by 2030. TSMC’s first plant in Arizona will start producing 4nm chips next year. The second plant, which was originally intended to produce 3nm chips, will also begin producing 2nm chips by 2028. The company’s third plant will produce 2nm chips with the capacity to make even more advanced semiconductors in the future.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the 2nm chips are essential to emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as for the military.
“For the first time ever, we will be making at scale the most advanced semiconductor chips on the planet here in the United States of America, by the way, with American workers,” Raimondo told reporters in a briefing ahead of the announcement.
