Apple is shifting its production to the USA: Prices may increase!

Amkor, a leading OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing) service provider, has announced plans to establish an advanced chip packaging facility in the United States. The company plans to invest about $2 billion in the new facility, which will be located in Arizona and will be used to package chips produced by TSMC at a nearby factory. Apple is set to become the facility’s largest customer.

Apple and Amkor partnership

The advanced packaging facility, to be located near Peoria, Arizona, will feature a massive 46,451-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing campus when fully constructed and equipped. The first phase of the Peoria factory, which will use Amkor’s pioneering technologies for advanced packaging and testing of chips for computer, automotive and communications applications, is expected to be operational within two to three years, in 2025 or 2026.

Amkor said it collaborated extensively with Apple to shape the strategic direction and initial production capacity of the Peoria facility. Apple will be the facility’s first and largest customer and will use the facility to package and test chips produced at nearby TSMC Fab 21.

TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in the US will produce chips using N5, N5P, N4, N4P and N4X process technologies in late 2025. Meanwhile, TSMC plans to commission chips in the N3, or 3nm, process in 2026. 3nm chips are already produced for Apple in TSMC’s home country. These chips have been used in iPhones and MacBooks for some time.

Both the US and Apple want to move the production of semiconductors and products to the US. The facilities and other investments established by TSMC and Amkor will provide the basis for these. Of course, Apple will not suddenly shift the production of iPhones or other products from China to here immediately. However, the process will progress gradually on this path. Shifting production to the USA also brings up some cost increases, especially employee costs. Price increases in the supply chain may trigger a possible price increase in Apple products in the future.