TSMC has published video of a flyover of Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona. The video shows hundreds of high-tech tools methodically producing chips for various American companies. The factory’s crown jewels, of course, are ASML’s Twinscan NXE extreme ultraviolet lithography tools, which produce the most elaborate circuits for chips like Nvidia’s Blackwell B300 processors.
I like how $TSM released a video about their novel plant in Arizona that explains how the chips are made using $ASML’s EUV equipment and even includes little clips provided by $ASML. “To be able to do this is extremely hard. We operate extreme ultraviolet technology… pic.twitter.com/0iUqR13Z8JSeptember 7, 2025
This video provides an inside look at TSMC’s Fab 21 Phase 1 plant near Phoenix, Arizona, which is ramping up chip production using N4 and N5 (4nm and 5nm class) process technologies. The video shows a path above a cleanroom with yellow lighting that filters out shorter wavelengths to prevent unintended exposure of the photomask.
The opening sequence depicts the so-called “Silver Highway” – TSMC’s Automated Material Handling System (AMHS), consisting of suspended tracks carrying front-opening unified hoppers (FOUP) carrying 300 mm diameter wafers. Hundreds of FOUPs are shown in motion to demonstrate the thorough wafer logistics in the factory, which is crucial to maintaining cycle times in a high-volume manufacturing (HVM) environment.
The centerpiece of the film is ASML’s EUV scanners (probably Twiscan NXE:3600D), which represent the Oppenheimer-style “printing” of patterns on boards in Christopher Nolan’s film. EUV lithography uses CO2 Light at a wavelength of 13.5 nm generated by laser-produced plasma (LPP) from tin droplets, which are noticeable as ignitions of purple plasma in the chamber. The LPP then strikes the wafer, creating elaborate patterns with resolution down to half-pitch ~13 nm with a single exposure for the current nodes.
The video also highlights the challenges facing EUV, such as deposition accuracy within a few nanometers (1.1 nm for NXE:3600D), stochastic effects, and the need for mirrors because classic optics used in photolithography absorb EUV featherlight. The video does not show the stages and wafer films that TSMC is tweaking for additional performance, but we do know that these critical components of EUV lithium tooling are obviously present in the systems used in Phase 1 of Fab 21.
For now, TSMC is producing chips for companies like Apple, AMD and Nvidia in Phase 1 Fab 21 using N4 and N5 process technologies, but the company is also building a Phase 2 Fab 21 that will be able to produce chips with N3 and N2 series process technologies (something that was originally planned for Phase 3 Fab 21), which is an improvement it has long hinted at recently CEO of CC Wei.
“We are preparing to more rapidly upgrade our technologies to N2 and more advanced process technologies in Arizona given our customers’ strong demand for artificial intelligence,” Wei told analysts and investors last week. “Additionally, we are close to securing a second large site nearby to support our existing expansion plans and provide greater flexibility in response to very strong, multi-year AI demand. Our plan will enable TSMC to scale to an independent Gigafab cluster in Arizona to meet the smartphone, AI and HPC application needs of our leading customers.”
TSMC calls plants with production capacity exceeding 100,000 wafer units per month “Gigafab.”
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