Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is evaluating a multibillion-dollar chip campus in Texas that could parallel its existing Arizona program, according to a Bloomberg report published October 1, 2026. People familiar with TSMC's internal planning told Bloomberg the project envisions multiple fabrication plants on a single Texas site, with the eventual price tag potentially running into tens of billions once land, utilities, and equipment are counted.

The Texas study remains under internal review and TSMC has not confirmed it publicly. Yet the proposal would extend a US expansion that has already climbed from a $12 billion pledge in 2020 to a stated $265 billion commitment as of July 2026, with the cumulative figure more than doubling in eighteen months.

Why Texas, and Why Now?

Texas already hosts Samsung's Taylor campus and a dense cluster of chip-adjacent suppliers built up over five years. For TSMC, planting a second US site near existing semiconductor infrastructure cuts permitting and utility risk compared with choosing a greenfield state. It also diversifies the company's American footprint beyond Arizona, where water constraints, power-grid limits, and labor pressures have repeatedly slowed construction.

Arizona's Five-Stage Climb to $265 Billion

The Arizona commitment did not arrive as one figure. TSMC announced five separate increments between 2020 and mid-2026, each tracking a jump in customer demand:

• May 14, 2020: $12 billion for the original fab
• December 6, 2022: +$28 billion, second fab added
• April 2024: +$25 billion, third fab confirmed
• March 3-4, 2025: +$100 billion, three more fabs plus two advanced packaging plants and an R&D center
• July 15-16, 2026: +$100 billion, taking the cumulative total to $265 billion

Each increment stepped ahead of new orders rather than a single grand plan drawn up in 2020.

Who's Driving the Capacity Math

TSMC does not design chips. Two of its customers, Nvidia and Apple, are large enough that their roadmaps effectively set TSMC's capacity planning. Nvidia's data-center GPUs and Apple's iPhone and Mac processors both depend on TSMC's most advanced process nodes.

A Texas site would need to run the same leading-edge technology Taiwan uses, which raises per-fab capital costs well above legacy production and lengthens the path from groundbreaking to first silicon.

How Does TSMC Compare With Samsung and Intel?

TSMC's proposed second US region leaves its two closest rivals further behind in committed dollars:

• Samsung Foundry, Taylor, Texas: $17 billion for the fab; over $37 billion for the wider regional plan. Two leading-edge logic fabs plus R&D, targeting 2026 operations.
• Intel, New Albany, Ohio: Up to $28 billion planned. Production now generally expected around 2030–2031 after delays.
• Intel, Chandler, Arizona (Fab 52 and Fab 62): More than $32 billion. Fab 52 in leading-edge production.

Samsung has struggled to win the volume of leading-edge Nvidia and Apple orders that TSMC commands, leaving Taylor's fabs running well below Phoenix's order book.

What About the Memory Squeeze?

TSMC's capacity problem is unfolding alongside the sharpest memory shortage the AI hardware market has seen. Micron said on September 30 it could not predict when DRAM supply would meet demand. More than 75% of Micron's 2027 output was already committed as of October 1, 2026, much of it tied to high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators.

Gartner forecast a 47% increase in DRAM prices during 2026 on that undersupply. Counterpoint Research projected roughly 30% further growth through year-end 2026, with another 20% increase possible in early 2027.

Memory chips come from different fabs than TSMC's logic wafers, so a Texas TSMC site would not directly add DRAM or HBM supply. Both shortages share a single cause: AI accelerator demand has outrun the industry's ability to add leading-edge manufacturing fast enough.

Does CHIPS Act Money Still Cover a Second Site?

The US CHIPS Act remained active in 2026, though disbursements lagged awards. The Government Accountability Office reported on August 7, 2026, that the Commerce Department had awarded roughly $31.7 billion to 24 companies across 49 projects, but had paid out only about $13.1 billion as of April 2026.

A second TSMC incentive package would likely draw on leftover CHIPS funding, Texas state-level tax breaks, and the direct federal negotiation that produced the March 2025 and July 2026 Arizona expansions.

What Comes Next

Three things will determine whether Texas becomes real: a TSMC board decision before 2027, multi-year capacity commitments from Nvidia or Apple tied to the new site, and federal-state incentive packages comparable to what Arizona received.

A confirmed Texas announcement would not change chip prices or availability this year or next. Fabs take years to qualify for production, and TSMC's own Arizona timeline shows second and third fabs still ramping years after groundbreaking. What a confirmed Texas plan would signal to markets is that TSMC expects demand to keep climbing past its current $265 billion Arizona ceiling, extending capacity planning deep into the next decade.