According to a new report, TSMC has moved forward with its plans and now aims to manufacture 4nm chips at its Arizona facility, which is under construction right now, from 2024.

The report from Bloomberg claims that Apple and other companies have urged TSMC to upgrade its plans and manufacture 4nm chipsets at its facility and not 5nm. The move comes as a result of the shortage of chips. Big tech companies have requested TSMC upgrade its infrastructure and supply more cutting-edge 4nm chips from the $12 billion chip plant.

TSMC previously said it would make 20,000 wafers per month at the Arizona facility, although production may increase from those original plans, the people said. Apple will use about a third of the output as production gets underway.

Apple and other major tech companies rely on TSMC for their chipmaking needs, and the change means they’ll be able to get more of their processors from the US. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has previously told employees that his company plans to source chips from the Arizona plant.

An official announcement is scheduled for next Tuesday in Phoenix, with Joe Biden, Gina Raimondo, Tim Cook, AMD CEO Lisa Su, and NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang expected to attend. It is also expected that TSMC will announce plans for a second phase involving an adjacent facility for producing even more advanced 3-nanometer chips.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly told his employees about the plans to secure 4nm chips from the TSMC Arizona plant last month. At an internal meeting in Germany, he said that “[Apple] has already made a decision to be buying out of a plant in Arizona, and this plant in Arizona starts up in ’24.” With 4nm chips, Apple could significantly improve its products’ performance and power efficiency.

Source: Bloomberg