Arizona Governor Says Main Construction Complete on TSMC Plant

01 SEPTEMBER 2022 - A simply hilarious story about Apple, Arizona, and TSMC on Wednesday - not necessarily in that order though. 9 to 5 Mac had the Grand Canyon state’s governor Doug Ducey saying that construction on TSMC’s main chip facility in the state is complete. “The plant is expected to fabricate some of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips,” according to the report, though that won’t happen for at least a couple of years.

Don’t worry - we’re not to the funny part yet.

9 to 5 Mac cites a report from South China Morning Post, which says in part:

Speaking at an investment conference during a visit to Taipei, Arizona governor Doug Ducey recalled meeting the TSMC leadership in 2017 and then in 2020 announcing the investment.

“Just over two years later TSMC has completed construction for its main facility and continues to make excellent progress,” he said, describing visiting the construction site as “even more impressive in person.”

The whole thing seems to have sent spasms through the TSMC halls. 9 to 5 Mac says the chipmaker issued a statement making it clear to no one in particular (China) that they’d talked with the Arizona governor, but he had not visited. Quoting South China Morning Post again:

TSMC said in a statement that the governor and his team did not visit the company, but did talk with them.

What’s up with the stiff arm? 9 to 5 Mac explains:

An earlier visit to TSMC in Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi sparked extremely strong reactions from China, including live-fire military exercises simulating a blockade of the island – something that would be part of an invasion plan. That being the case, it is likely that TSMC wanted to do everything it could to downplay Ducey’s visit – especially since the governor also described the state’s role in training Taiwan’s F-16 fighter pilots.

In my head right now, where Ducey is concerned, TSMC is like that Mariah Carey meme. “I don’t know her…”

I thought it was funny.