Bloomberg News reporting Apple to buy some of its semiconductor chips from a factory under construction in Arizona.
This is part of an industry trend highlighted in our recent analysis for investors: semiconductors are going global.
Apple currently sources all its chips from Taiwan.
The Arizona plant, being built by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is still under construction and plans to be operational by 2024. TSMC have also recently announced they plant to invest US$12 billion in a second chip factory in the state.
This will have significant knock on effects to the US economy, but also Taiwan, China and Europe who are now all competing for semiconductor investment and knowledge base.
“We’ve already made a decision to be buying out of a plant in Arizona, and this plant in Arizona starts up in ’24, so we’ve got about two years ahead of us on that one, maybe a little less… And in Europe, I’m sure that we will also source from Europe as those plans become more apparent.”
— Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, at meeting including Apple services chief Eddy Cue and Deirdre O’Brien, its head of retail and human resources.
The announcement comes just as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announces it has purchased US$4.1 billion stock in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.