Apple Chip Manufacturing in U.S. to Expand Following New Partnership

Apple’s chip manufacturer TSMC and chip packaging company Amkor on Thursday announced that the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on chip production, packaging, and testing in Arizona.

In a press release, the two companies said that the close proximity of their facilities in Arizona will speed up the overall chip manufacturing process:

Under the agreement, TSMC will contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor in their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona. TSMC will leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix. The close collaboration and proximity of TSMC’s front-end fab and Amkor’s back-end facility will accelerate overall product cycle times.

Apple last year confirmed that Amkor would package Apple silicon chips produced at a nearby TSMC facility, as part of a shared desire to expand U.S. manufacturing. Tech journalist Tim Culpan recently reported that the TSMC facility had started small-scale production of the A16 chip, which debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro models two years ago. The lower-end iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models also use the A16 chip.

Apple said Amkor would invest approximately $2 billion in the project, and said it would employ more than 2,000 people upon completion.

“Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we’ll continue to expand our investment here in the United States,” said Apple’s operations chief Jeff Williams, in a press release last November. “Apple silicon has unlocked new levels of performance for our users, enabling them to do things they could never do before, and we are thrilled that Apple silicon will soon be produced and packaged in Arizona.”

This partnership comes a little over two years after the U.S. government passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which provides funding to corporations, including TSMC and Amkor, to increase U.S. semiconductor research and manufacturing.