TSMC alone bought 1,128 acres of land from State of Arizona and additional land has been purchased by a developer for suppliers. Overall it has lots of potential.
Regarding the water source, I remember I read it from somewhere that a significant portion of the TSMC's water will be purchased from agriculture water rights.
See other article I linked to in
https://semiwiki.com/forum/index.ph...blown-az-republic-editorial.15614/#post-52119
I've been following this (water sources for AZ fabs) a little on the side; the water allocation for TSMC is being transferred from the AZ State Land Trust's allotment of 12,000 acre-feet, as a condition of approval for the industrial park in which TSMC is building their plant. That allotment was reserved for the State Land Trust for development projects; my understanding of it is that it had not been used in the past.
Water rights in the western US are rather byzantine, and have all sorts of weird stipulations; there are different tiers of priority, like junior or senior debt-holders in a company that goes bankrupt, the junior water rights holders lose their access first before the senior water rights holders have to give up even one drop.
From
Phoenix's Water Resource Plan (page 121):
5.3.3 Acquisition of Colorado River Allocation from Arizona State Land Department The Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) has a municipal and industrial subcontract with the federal government and CAWCD for approximately 32,000 AF of Colorado River water. ASLD is not a water provider, but at the time the subcontract was awarded in the 1980s, it was anticipated that several municipal providers in Central Arizona would annex certain state lands that would need a renewable water supply. This was noted in ASLD’s subcontract in an appendix, which specified that Phoenix would likely need 12,000 AF for state lands north of Jomax Road.
In 2020, Phoenix signed an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with ASLD in which ASLD agreed to recommend transfer of 12,000 AF of its allocation to Phoenix over a period of approximately 4 years. The transfer is associated with the development of the Biscuit Flat area near the intersection of Interstate 17 and State Route 303 in northwest Phoenix. The IGA contemplates that ASLD will recommend annual transfers of approximately 3,900 AF with the approval of the State Selection Board, BOR, CAWCD and the Arizona Superior Court until the entire 12,000 AF allocation is transferred into Phoenix’s municipal and industrial subcontract. This water is the same priority as Phoenix’s current subcontract supplies (M&I priority), so while it is a higher priority in the CAP system, it is still subject to shortages based on Colorado River conditions. However, it will provide a valuable supply for the anticipated industrial development in the Biscuit Flat area, as well as an additional supply to buffer against shortage.
