Due to a skilled labour shortage, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest chipmaker, will postpone production at its planned Arizona chip factory until 2025.
The year-long postponement comes as commercial ties between the United States and China have worsened in recent years.
On July 21, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu announced the news to investors during a second-quarter earnings call.
Mr. Liu stated that the firm does not have enough trained local personnel to complete the installation of modern equipment at its new site by the stipulated date.
When former President Donald Trump was in office, TSMC originally presented plans to establish the plant in Arizona in 2020.
The Taiwanese business said last October that it will begin manufacturing its new 5-nanometer chips in Arizona by 2024.
Mr. Liu hoped that the first of TSMC's two semiconductor manufacturing facilities at the Arizona factory would be operational by 2024, with the second following suit in 2026.
TSMC is the principal chip producer for Apple's iPhones, and CEO Tim Cook intends to purchase computer chips from the company.
Apple's new iPhone CPU is said to be built on the company's 3-nanometer manufacturing technology.
The American phone manufacturer normally unveils its next iPhone in September and is expected to place an order with TSMC in the third quarter.
Semiconductor chips are used in everything from automobiles to computers to mobile phones.
Since the Trump administration, the United States has been striving to bring semiconductor production back home, after relying on chip imports from East Asia for decades.
In 1990, the United States accounted for about 40% of worldwide computer chip manufacture, but it today accounts for just around 10% of global supply.
The vulnerability of America's extensive supply chain for critical computer chips across the Pacific has become a national security danger.
Fear about China's booming chipmaking business has prompted Washington to levy a slew of sanctions on the country while also investing billions of dollars to strengthen America's semiconductor industry.
The outbreak emphasized America's reliance on computer chips from places such as Taiwan, which is more vulnerable to Chinese attack.
Last summer, the Biden administration signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which would fund $280 billion to bring more domestic chip development and manufacture back to the United States and "create good-paying American jobs."
Tax advantages were provided to foreign corporations who constructed computer chip manufacturing factories in the United States as part of the investment.
TSMC informed the Biden administration in December that it planned to more than quadruple its investment in the project to $40 billion, making it one of the biggest foreign investments in American history.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the corporation first requested for $15 billion in investment under the CHIPS statute.
