Arizona Benefits from TSMC, Intel, SEMICON West Debuts In Area

//php echo do_shortcode(‘[responsivevoice_button voice=”US English Male” buttontext=”Listen to Post”]’) ?>

Having just spent over a week in Arizona for Intel Tech Tour 2025 and SEMICON West 2025, it’s clear that Arizona officials are very excited, with over $210 billion of investments in chip manufacturing facilities in the area since 2020. And on top of that, to see a successful debut for SEMICON West 2025 in Phoenix, where the organizers, SEMI, said they saw significantly increased attendance on the first day, up from 11,400 on day one in San Francisco in 2024, to over 20,000 on day one in Phoenix last week.

It’s not difficult to see why the numbers are up for the trade show – which covers the whole chip manufacturing ecosystem, from lithography to materials and gases, plus more. For example, in the extensive networking opportunities at the event, I talked to people involved in areas spanning from buildings and construction and facilities management, to bonding adhesives.

It’s impressive to think the semiconductor industry, that produces the tiniest of features on silicon in small packages, involves so many materials, equipment, buildings and people. No wonder countries are finding the whole rebalancing of the supply chain that is happening in the semiconductor world right now quite frustrating and complex. Walking the show floor, talking to people, it’s apparent that no country can become completely self-sufficient.

However, the ambition is there to bring more capabilities onshore, and that must please both the politicians as well as the population who voted on the basis of bringing more jobs back to the nation. For example, Rose Castanares, president of TSMC Arizona, said in her talk on the Monday of the show, “Our own technicians are 90% native from Arizona.”

She highlighted just how good Arizona was, from enticing TSMC to locate there, to the ecosystem and pipeline. On this she said, “Our largest customer asked us to be here [in the U.S.]. so we explored the states. We also needed talent pipelines. And the clencher was that Arizona really wanted us to be here. Arizona chose semiconductors and Arizona chose us.”

While this soundbite would please the Arizona officials attending, more seriously she added that having everyone in the locality (suppliers and talent), is a force multiplier. Speaking on the same panel David McCann, senior VP and chief of staff at Amkor Technology, who just broke ground at its semiconductor advanced packaging and test campus in Arizona as part of a total $7 billion investment, said, “Our customers see the availability of the whole supply chain here as helpful to them.” He added, “We expect to have around 3,000 staff here in Arizona once fully built out, with around a third being graduates, a third being technician level, and a third being school leavers.”

And the fact that you did have so many people in the ecosystem in Arizona already serving the big headline manufacturing capacity being added, as well as many others that don’t get mentioned (watch out for a future story on some of the players we spoke to at SEMICON West), was a key contributor to the excitement and buzz in Phoenix at SEMICON West 2025.

We caught up with Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI, the trade organization that organizes SEMICON West and other SEMICON trade shows around the world, to get his view on the success of the show, as well as other key topics challenging the industry – including talent pipeline and more.

Watch the interview here:

We’ll have more stories and interviews from SEMICON West 2025 soon.

---

See also:

Intel’s Confidence Shows As It Readies New Processors on 18A

Nvidia, AMD Ramp at TSMC Arizona as U.S. Tariffs Loom 

Semicon India 2025: PM Modi Maps Vision To Target Global Chip Industry

Advanced Chip Packaging Tools Are New Battleground in India

Semicon India 2024: PM Modi Pulls Out All the Stops for Local Chip Growth