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Ahead of any official chip duties announced by Washington, the China Semiconductor Industry Association advised last Friday that the origin of integrated circuits should be determined by where the wafer is fabricated, whether packaged or not. Under these rules, according to ijiwei, chips fabricated in U.S.-based wafer fabs will now face higher import duties from China.
According to the report, there are four foundries with fabs in the U.S.—TSMC (2), GlobalFoundries (3), Tower Semiconductor (2), and X-Fab (1)—alongside seven IDM players with U.S. fabs: Intel (4), Texas Instruments (5), ADI (3), Micron (3), NXP (4), Infineon (5), and Samsung (2).
The report suggests that among the 35 major U.S. fabs, Texas Instruments, Intel, Infineon, and NXP lead the IDM pack with the most U.S.-based fabs and high local output. On the foundry side, GlobalFoundries and TSMC stand out, operating three and two U.S. fabs, respectively. Here’s a snapshot of these key facilities.
Foundries
TSMC currently operates two fabs in America, including a freshly established 12-inch fab in Arizona, which reportedly started mass production of 4nm chips in 4Q24, and an 8-inch fab in Washington state.
As per TSMC’s latest roadmap, its second fab in Arizona is expected to be operational by 2028, utilizing more advanced nodes such as 3nm, 2nm, and A16 based on customer demand. According to a report by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), TSMC may accelerate its plans for a third fab in Arizona, with groundbreaking expected in June.
GlobalFoundries, spun off from AMD in 2008, currently operates three fabs in the U.S., with two in New York and the other in Vermont. As highlighted by ijiwei, it manufactures chips for AMD, as well as IBM, ARM, Broadcom, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm. The company, unlike TSMC and Intel, focuses on more mature nodes like 14nm, 22nm and 90nm.
IDMs
Intel, aiming to rival TSMC at the 2nm-class, runs three U.S. fabs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, with a fourth underway in Ohio. About 20–30% of its wafer output comes from U.S. sites, as highlighted by ijiwei.
However, its $28B Ohio project is now delayed to 2030–2031, at least five years behind schedule, according to Reuters.
Samsung, another semiconductor giant trying to expand its footprint in the U.S., operates two fabs in Texas — one in Austin and another in Taylor, with the former mainly handling chip production on 65nm to 14nm nodes, as per ijiwei.
Nonetheless, according to The Elec, Samsung has once again delayed its Taylor plant, now targeting a February 2027 launch, while production was initially set for 2024.
Texas Instruments operates five fabs in the U.S.—primarily in Texas, Utah, and Oregon—out of its 15 global production sites, according to ijiwei. Roughly 90% of TI’s wafer production is in-house, with most of it based in the U.S., making the company more exposed to China’s new chip origin rules, the report notes.
Analog Devices (ADI) runs three U.S. fabs in Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon. As per ijiwei, ADI is ramping up both internal and partner manufacturing, targeting a twofold increase in U.S. and European capacity by end-2025. Currently, 30–40% of its wafer output comes from its U.S. sites, the report indicates.
NXP, on the other hand, operates four wafer fabs in the U.S.—two in Austin, Texas, and two in Chandler, Arizona. Ijiwei notes that roughly
30–40% of NXP’s wafer capacity comes from its U.S.-based fabs, which primarily support its automotive and industrial semiconductor lines.
Infineon, headquartered in Germany, operates five manufacturing sites in the U.S., including locations in Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, and Massachusetts, covering manufacturing, assembly, and production. The ijiwei report notes that around 20–30% of Infineon’s wafer capacity comes from its U.S.-based fabs, while the rest relies on external foundries like TSMC and UMC, as well as overseas fabs in Germany (Dresden) and Malaysia (Kulim).
Infineon revealed in February that it has sold its 200mm wafer fab located in Austin, Texas to semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology for USD 110 million.
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(Photo credit: Intel)
