Apple will acquire more than 100 million chips of American origin from TSMC this year

Apple and “localization” of production: how the company plans to use U.S. facilities

In 2023 Apple pledged to invest up to $600 billion in the United States over four years, but only a portion of those funds will be directed toward purchasing products made here. This year the company is set to buy more than 100 million chips from TSMC that are fabricated at a plant in Arizona.

What the Apple executive says
David Tom, head of Apple's global procurement department, explained in an interview with *The Wall Street Journal* that the company buys as many American chips from TSMC as its capacity allows. Nevertheless, the “majority” of components still come from Asia. At the same time, Apple is already spending billions on:

- glass panels in Kentucky;
- recycling rare‑earth magnets in California;
- semiconductors produced in Texas.

In the U.S., Taiwanese Foxconn assembles servers for Apple and plans to start building Mac Mini by year’s end.

Why Texas matters
1. GlobalWafers opened a new plant in Texas that will supply American manufacturers with silicon wafers—the foundation of modern chips. TSMC uses these wafers to produce Apple chips.

2. Cooperation with TSMC benefits not only Apple but also other developers, as they “follow Apple” in adopting new process technologies.

TSMC’s U.S. development plan
Metric Status Second plant (Arizona) Ready for production this year Third plant Planned for 2030 Required number of plants in Arizona Minimum six to reach the scale of Taiwanese sites Goal by 2030 2‑nm chip production (already available in Taiwan)
Taiwan prohibits exporting such technologies without government approval, so developing U.S. manufacturing is especially important.

Additional facilities
- Amkor Technology will open two plants in Arizona for packaging and testing TSMC chips. The first will start next year, eliminating the need to ship wafers with chips to Taiwan.
- Amkor has earmarked $7 billion for this project; Apple will also support its partner with an investment whose amount is not disclosed.

What will be assembled in the U.S.
Apple intends to begin with relatively simple devices, such as Mac Mini. iPhone assembly in the United States is not planned yet. In the 2013‑s attempts to assemble a Mac Pro in Texas ran into low worker qualification and infrastructure issues. To address this, Foxconn will open a training center for local employees on its site.

In short: Apple is investing billions of dollars in U.S. plants, but only part of the money will go toward local chips. The bulk of components still comes from Asia, yet developing Texas as a semiconductor and device assembly cluster gradually brings the company closer to a more complete “localization” of production in the United States.