The driver of a waste disposal truck was rushed to a hospital Wednesday following an incident at the Phoenix campus of Taiwanese chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which is under construction.
Local media reported that an explosion had occurred which, according to the company in a statement, did not damage the facilities. The truck driver is a contractor and no TSMC employees or construction workers were injured, according to the statement. Firefighters did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
TSMC manufactures most of the world’s advanced semiconductors. Last month, the Biden administration awarded the company a $6.6 billion grant under the CHIPS and Science Act in a bid to bring cutting-edge chip manufacturing to the United States.
TSMC has long dominated the global chip supply chain from its base in Taiwan. Driven by a chip shortage and China’s increasingly hostile stance toward Taiwan, which Beijing says is part of its territory, world leaders have spent billions to entice the company to expand to their shores. TSMC over the past four years has committed to building new factories in Japan, Germany and Arizona.
The company says its campus on the northern outskirts of Phoenix will eventually house three factories. Work began in 2021 but stalled when construction unions in Arizona raised safety concerns and opposed TSMC bringing in workers from Taiwan to help install sophisticated equipment. The first factory is now expected to begin producing chips in 2025 and the second in 2028. Federal officials have said they expect TSMC’s planned facility in Arizona to create 6,000 chip manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 manufacturing jobs. I work on the construction.
Semiconductor manufacturing is complex and involves specialized chemicals and materials. The injured driver was driving a tanker truck containing sulfuric acid.
Arizona has become one of the top destinations for chip-related spending. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, more than $100 billion in new investments in semiconductors have been announced since the CHIPS Act was introduced.
After TSMC revealed plans to build a center in the US in 2020, several Taiwanese companies that supply it with chemicals said they would do the same. Some even bought land. But they have held back as progress at the plant slowed.
Amy Chang-Chien contributed to the research.