Wendell Huang, chief financial officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
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TSMC is scrambling to ramp up capacity at its Arizona plant as the company continues to see “multi-year demand conditions” from its customers, chief financial officer Wendell Huang told CNBC.
TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is ramping up its largest investment in Arizona by injecting an additional $100 billion to aggressively expand its US chipmaking footprint amid a multi-year boom in AI demand.
The new commitment raises TSMC’s total investment pipeline in Arizona to $265 billion, emphasizing AI-driven capacity building that also prompted an increase in the company’s full-year spending revisions to between $60 billion and $64 billion.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Emily Tan, TSMC’s Huang said the new investment comes as a result of strong customer demand in the US market and strong government support.
“We see this strong, multi-year demand, and we don’t plan to leave food on the table for someone else,” Huang told CNBC. “As long as the megatrend is right, we will be able to continue to deliver profitable growth for our shareholders,” he said.
Growing demand
To meet growing customer demand, TSMC is aggressively expanding its leading capabilities, including the rapid conversion of its 5-nanometer capacity to an advanced 3-nanometer area to support customers, Huang said.
The nanometer figure refers to the size of each transistor on the chip. As transistors get smaller, more of them can be packed into a single semiconductor. In general, nanometer size reduction can produce more powerful and efficient chips.
When it comes to TSMC’s US expansion, the first phase, using 4-nanometer technology, is already underway, the CFO told CNBC.
“It’s going to get bigger and bigger in the next few areas,” Huang said, establishing 2-nanometer technology as the company’s new revenue driver heading into the third quarter, following its first cash generation in the second quarter.
The manufacturing cost of the US fabric is four to five times higher than that of Taiwan, however, Huang said that although the initial dilution will increase as the scale of overseas operations increases, the expansion will eventually improve the development of the US semiconductor ecosystem.
“It will be the breadcrumbs and advanced packaging fabrics,” Huang said of the $100 billion new investment deployment.
Shares of TSMC ended the day up 1% after posting earnings, though shares fell 7% on Friday. The stock is up about 48% year to date.
TSMC pays dividends year to date.
In response to the company’s share price performance, Huang said TSMC has no control over the financial markets. “What we can do is focus on the core of our business,” he said, adding that while the sector is facing rising component prices, the company sees little impact due to its focus on the high-end market.
Apart from market factors, TSMC also manages its regulatory footprint. In China, Huang said TSMC continues to comply with all export controls while serving its Chinese customers, who contribute about 8% of total revenue.
The chipmaker is increasing its focus on expansion drivers in the future. Regarding the prospects of physical AI, he added that the company’s recent collaboration with Sony for image sensors is part of its commitment to support long-term customer growth in specialized technologies.
– CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this story.
