Biden administration announces $6.6B deal with TSMC for semiconductor plant

April 8 (UPI) -- The White House on Monday announced a new deal with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., to provide funding for expansion in the United States.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the funding, provided under the CHIPS and Science Act, will allow TSMC to construct a third chip factory in Phoenix, bringing its total investment in Arizona to $65 billion.

"These facilities will manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, putting us on track to produce 20% of the world's leading semiconductors by 2030," he said. "The agreement also dedicates $50 million of CHIPS funding to training and developing the local workforce, so workers don't have to leave their hometowns to find good-paying jobs in innovative industries."

Under the deal, TSMC, one of the world's leading chipmakers, will get up to $6.6 billion from the Biden administration to help the United States build its domestic chip capacity.

Biden said overall the new plants will produce 25,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs.

"One of the key goals of President Biden's CHIPS and Science Act was to bring the most advanced chip manufacturing in the world to the U.S., and with this announcement and TSMC's increased investment in their Arizona campus, we are working to achieve that goal," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement about the agreement.

Spurred by supply chain issues with semiconductors overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CHIPS and Science Act now provides tech companies incentives in the billions to produce their work in the United States on the condition that do not expand in China and other countries the United States considers a security threat.

TSMC has been one of the main benefactors of the legislation. In December, TSMC announced it was building its second plant in the Phoenix area where it would make the advanced chips.

"A year and a half ago, I toured the site of TSMC's first new fab in Phoenix," Biden said in a White House statement. "TSMC's renewed commitment to the United States and its investment in Arizona represents a broader story for semiconductor manufacturing that's made in America and with the strong supportof America's leading technology firms to build the products we rely on every day."