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With TSM building a major fab in Arizona that is well underway, there is no reason the US government should be using taxpayer money to build another fab and if another one is needed it should be to increase the capacity of TSM's Arizona fab. TSM's track record is totally superior to Intel's and has a larger and more critical customer base than Intel.
there is no reason the US government should be using taxpayer money to build another fab and if another one is needed it should be to increase the capacity of TSM's Arizona fab.
Water is certainly more plentiful back east, but Arizona municipalities manage water very closely (well at least the ones in the Phoenix and Tucson area), and the fabs there are among the least likely to be impacted. Agriculture gets hit first and is still the major user of water. I don't think the fab capacity here can double without running into constraints due to water, but it's not going to stop the existing fabs under construction. There are other reasons that are more likely to constrain fab expansion plans in AZ -- notably the ability to convince qualified workers to move to a place with a hot climate and house prices that are no longer affordable.