TSMC commits another $100 billion to Arizona for at least four more 2nm fabs - 2026 capex could hit $64 billion following another record quarterly earnings

TSMC will invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. to build at least four more chipmaking plants and advanced packaging facilities in Arizona.

The extra spending takes TSMC's total U.S. commitment to $265 billion. TSMC will invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. to build at least four more chipmaking plants and advanced packaging facilities in Arizona, CEO C.C. Wei announced at the company's second-quarter earnings conference in Taipei on Thursday.

The new fabs will produce chips at the 2nm node and below, and the commitment lifts TSMC's total announced U.S. investment to $265 billion, confirming plans that appeared as a market rumor in February. TSMC didn't attach a timeline, saying the pace of construction will be set by market demand.

Wei said the money will fund several more logic wafer fabs "for 2-nanometer and below technologies" alongside advanced packaging plants to serve multi-year demand from TSMC's leading U.S. customers.

Expansion Scope and Scale

According to a Bloomberg report citing a U.S. official, the expansion takes TSMC's planned U.S. footprint to 10 fabs and two advanced packaging facilities. A leading-edge 2nm-class fab module with a capacity of roughly 20,000 wafer starts per month costs roughly $25 billion to $35 billion to build and equip, so $100 billion funds approximately four modules, matching the "at least four" plants Wei referenced.

It also puts the Arizona site around the halfway mark of the 12-fab, four-packaging-facility endgame reported in April as part of the broader U.S.-Taiwan agreement.

Packaging as the Binding Constraint

The packaging component is arguably the more consequential half of the plan, as CoWoS capacity, not wafer output, remains the binding constraint on AI accelerator production, and on-site packaging in Arizona would give TSMC's U.S. customers a complete domestic supply chain from wafer start to packaged accelerator for the first time.

Record Quarterly Earnings

The announcement comes alongside another record quarter for TSMC, which posted net income of NT$706.56 billion ($22.35 billion) for April-June, up 77.4% year over year and its fifth consecutive quarterly record. Revenue rose 36% to NT$1.27 trillion, and gross margin hit a record 67.7%. High-performance computing accounted for 66% of revenue by platform.

TSMC now expects third-quarter revenue of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion, up 12% sequentially at the midpoint, and raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to slightly above 40% in U.S. dollar terms, from the roughly 30% it guided in June.

2026 Capital Expenditure Outlook

CFO Wendell Huang said 2026 capital expenditure will rise to between $60 billion and $64 billion, up from a prior budget of $52 billion to $56 billion, with 70% to 80% of the total going to advanced process technologies.

TSMC's suppliers describe the same demand picture, with ASML raising its 2026 outlook on Wednesday, and Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson telling Nikkei Asia the industry is set for years of capacity expansion.

Demand-Contingent Pledge and Timeline

TSMC declined to say when the additional $100 billion will be spent, but the commitment follows the U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement that cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% in exchange for $250 billion in planned Taiwanese investment in the U.S., roughly two weeks after President Donald Trump said TSMC was doubling the size of its Arizona operations. A demand-contingent pledge satisfies that arrangement without committing capital to a schedule.

Wei himself bracketed the demand outlook, saying he expects demand to remain very strong through 2029 or 2030, but added: "Whether there is a dip in between or not, I'm not very sure."

Taiwan Operations and Arizona Execution Challenges

Wei also said TSMC is planning 13 leading-edge and advanced packaging fabs in Taiwan over the next several years, heading off concerns that the U.S. buildout comes at Taiwan's expense.

Execution in Arizona still faces labor, water, and visa constraints, which will do as much as demand to determine how quickly four more fabs are built in Phoenix.