TSMC Arizona has taken another decisive step in cementing North Phoenix as a global semiconductor hub, acquiring 900 acres near Loop 303 and Interstate 17 at an Arizona State Land Department auction on Jan. 7. The land purchase positions the world’s largest chipmaker to advance the next phase of its historic U.S. expansion.
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The parcel opened with a starting bid of $197.25 million and was identified by TSMC months earlier as critical to supporting its long-term vision for Arizona. The company has committed up to $165 billion to its north Phoenix operations, an investment that will ultimately include six advanced chip fabrication plants, two cutting-edge packaging facilities, and a research and development center.
TSMC Chair and CEO C.C. Wei has emphasized that momentum around the Arizona project continues to accelerate, fueled by strong collaboration with government partners and customers alike. “With the strong collaboration and support from our leading U.S. customers and the U.S. federal, state and city governments, we continue to speed up our capacity expansion in Arizona,” Wei said. “We are making tangible progress and executing well to our plan.”
The expansion gained further traction in late December, when the Phoenix City Council approved rezoning for the TSMC site and the surrounding NorthPark area. While the newly acquired land brings TSMC’s north Phoenix footprint to roughly three square miles, much of NorthPark remains under state control and is expected to be auctioned in future phases. Long-term plans for the area include approximately 15,000 housing units, schools, commercial development, and nearly 2,000 acres of preserved open space.
The auction itself carried symbolic weight for the company. TSMC Arizona President Rose Castanares placed the winning bid using the same paddle employed during TSMC’s first Phoenix land purchase in December 2020. The paddle’s number — eight — holds cultural significance in Chinese numerology, representing prosperity and good fortune.
While TSMC has not announced a construction timeline for the newly acquired site, Wei indicated late last year that securing additional land was essential to meeting surging demand tied to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. “Our plan will enable TSMC to scale up to an independent GIGAFAB cluster in Arizona,” Wei said, “to support the needs of our leading-edge customers in smartphone, AI and HPC applications.”
With the land now secured, TSMC’s Arizona expansion continues to move from vision to reality—reshaping the Valley’s economic landscape and reinforcing the state’s growing role in the global semiconductor supply chain.
