From Arizona fabs to Texas wafer plants, Apple’s reshoring drive builds a layered US chip supply chain, reshaping semiconductor production while iPhone assembly remains abroad.
Apple is reportedly building a domestic semiconductor ecosystem in the United States (US), focusing on chip design, fabrication, packaging, and selective assembly, while continuing to produce devices in large scale overseas.
Central to this effort is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) complex outside Phoenix, Arizona. The site, spanning 2000 acres (about 809.37 hectares) is expected to host six fabrication plants. Apple has positioned itself as the anchor customer, planning to purchase more than 100 million chips from the Arizona facilities in 2026.
While these fabs currently produce four- and five-nanometre chips, leading-edge two-nanometre production is not anticipated until around 2030. Apple’s latest iPhones and Macs still rely on TSMC’s advanced nodes in Taiwan, but many supporting components can be manufactured in Arizona.
The supply chain extends beyond fabrication. In Sherman, Texas, GlobalWafers has opened a facility producing 300-millimetre silicon wafers, with Apple encouraging suppliers to source locally. Near TSMC’s Arizona site, Amkor Technology is developing two packaging plants on more than 100 acres (almost 40.46 hectares), backed by Apple investment.
The first facility, due to open in 2027, will handle wafer dicing, packaging, and testing, creating an end-to-end domestic flow for selected chips.
Apple is also experimenting with assembly closer to its US engineering teams. In Houston, it has partnered with Foxconn to produce AI servers, with plans to expand into Mac mini assembly. The facility will convert a warehouse into 200,000 square feet (about 18580.6 square metres) of manufacturing space, a scale considered more sustainable than Apple’s earlier Austin-based Mac Pro assembly.
Despite these investments, Apple has no plans to shift iPhone assembly to the US. Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan has described the reshoring strategy as focused on critical components and advanced silicon, strengthening supply chain resilience.
Apple’s US commitments, spanning wafer production, packaging, and assembly, form part of hundreds of billions of dollars invested domestically over four years.
