According to reports in the Taiwan media, TSMC's suppliers have stated that they are willing to accompany TSMC in its expansion in the US. This comes on the back of TSMC's pledge in March to invest US$100 billion in Arizona where its current fabs are located. However, due to TSMC's currently limited production quantities in the US there's little incentive for these companies to set up branch offices in the US, even taking the tariffs into account. In other words, it might take up to a decade before TSMC has a comparable supply chain in the US, as it has in Taiwan and China today.

The Taiwan government has discussed the matter with various suppliers and the conclusion was that TSMC's production volumes at the moment don't warrant the costs of setting up a local supply chain. On the other hand, if TSMC's volumes reach the proposed levels that the company has outlined in its fab roadmaps, we're likely to see most of its supply chain partners setting up business in the US. This also suggests that TSMC might not have bothered with approaching Intel's suppliers, which is somewhat surprising, as many of them ought to be able to provide similar chemicals and materials as TSMC's suppliers in Taiwan offer the company. It's also possible that Intel's suppliers haven't provided pricing that TSMC finds competitive enough. Regardless, at some point in the future, there's likely to be more competition when it comes to semiconductor production materials suppliers, assuming TSMC expands its fabs according to plan .