Wendel Huang, chief financial officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, July 16, 2026.
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TSMC is rushing to add capacity at its Arizona plant as it continues to see “huge multi-year trends in demand” from customers, Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang told CNBC.
TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.is committing an additional $100 billion to aggressively expand its U.S. chip manufacturing footprint and expanding its huge investment in Arizona as structural demand for AI continues to surge for years.
This new commitment increases TSMC’s total investment pipeline in Arizona to $265 billion and highlights large-scale AI-powered capacity additions, which also spurs the company to revise its full-year capital expenditures upward to between $60 billion and $64 billion.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Emily Tan, TSMC’s Huang said the new investment was made against the backdrop of solid customer demand in the US market and strong government support.
“We’re seeing a multi-year demand for this solid structure, and we’re not leaving food for anyone else,” Huang told CNBC. “As long as the megatrends hold true, we can continue to deliver profitable growth to our shareholders,” he said.
Rapid increase in demand
To meet rapidly increasing customer demand, TSMC is actively optimizing its leading-edge capacity, including rapidly converting 5-nanometer capacity to advanced 3-nanometer nodes to support customers, Huang said.
The number nanometer refers to the size of the individual transistors on the chip. As transistors get smaller, more transistors can be packed onto a single semiconductor. Nanometer size reduction typically results in more powerful and efficient chips.
As for TSMC’s U.S. expansion, the first phase using 4-nanometer technology is already up and running, the CFO told CNBC.
“It’s going to get bigger and bigger in the coming quarters,” Huang said, noting that 2-nanometer technology will be the company’s latest revenue driver heading into the third quarter, following its initial revenue generation in the second quarter.
While fab construction costs in the US are four to five times higher than in Taiwan, Huang said the initial dilution will increase further as the scale of overseas operations increases, but expansion will ultimately further foster the development of the US semiconductor ecosystem.
“It’s going to be both a wafer fab on the front end and an advanced packaging fab on the back end,” Huang said of the rollout of the new $100 billion investment.
TSMC stock ended the day up more than 1% following the earnings release, but fell 7% on Friday. The stock price has increased about 48% since the beginning of the year.
TSMC stock price since the beginning of the year.
Regarding the company’s stock price movement, Huang said TSMC does not have any control over the financial market. “What we can do is really focus on the fundamentals of the business,” he said, adding that while the sector is facing significant price increases for components, the company’s strategic focus on the high-end market will minimize the impact.
Apart from market factors, TSMC also manages regulatory impacts. Regarding China, Huang said TSMC continues to comply with all export regulations while serving Chinese customers, which account for about 8% of total revenue.
Chipmakers are expanding their focus towards future expansion drivers. Regarding the outlook for physical AI, he added that the company’s recent joint venture with Sony on image sensors is part of the company’s strategic efforts to support its customers’ long-term growth in specialty technologies.
—CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this article.
