The driver of a waste disposal truck was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday after an accident at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's Phoenix campus, which is under construction.
Local media reported an explosion, but the company said in a statement that there was no damage to the facility. The truck driver was a contractor and no TSMC employees or construction workers were injured, the statement said. Fire officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
TSMC manufactures most of the world's advanced semiconductors. The Biden administration last month awarded the company $6.6 billion in grants under the CHIPS and Science Act to bring cutting-edge chip manufacturing to the United States.
TSMC has long dominated the global chip supply chain from its home base of Taiwan. World leaders are pushing the company to expand into Taiwan in response to chip shortages and China's increasingly hostile stance towards the island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory. billions of dollars have been spent on TSMC has been working for the past four years to build new factories in Japan, Germany and Arizona.
The campus, located in the northern suburbs of Phoenix, will eventually house three factories, the company said. Construction began in 2021, after the Arizona construction union raised safety concerns and objected to TSMC bringing in workers from Taiwan to help install the advanced equipment. It became stagnant. The first factory is currently scheduled to start producing chips in 2025 and the second factory in 2028. Federal officials said they expect TSMC's planned facility in Arizona to create 6,000 chip manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction jobs.
Semiconductor manufacturing is complex and requires specialized chemicals and materials. The injured driver was driving a tanker truck loaded with sulfuric acid.
Arizona has become the top destination for tip-related spending. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, more than $100 billion in new semiconductor investments have been announced since the introduction of the CHIPS Act.
After TSMC announced plans to build a hub in the United States in 2020, several Taiwanese companies that supply chemicals to TSMC announced they would follow suit. Some people bought land. But they have held back as progress at the factory has slowed.
amy chan chien Contributed to research.