The driver of a waste disposal truck was rushed to a hospital on May 15th following an incident at the Phoenix campus of the Taiwanese chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which is under construction.

An explosion occurred, which the company stated did not cause any damage to the facility. The truck driver is a contractor, and no TSMC employees or construction workers were injured, the statement said. 

Semiconductor manufacturing is complex and involves specialized chemicals and materials. The driver who was injured drove a tank truck containing sulfuric acid.

TSMC makes the majority of the world’s advanced semiconductors. Last month, the Biden administration awarded the company a $6.6 billion grant under the CHIPS and Science Act in a bid to bring cutting-edge chip making to the United States.

TSMC, which has long dominated the global chip supply chain from its home base in Taiwan, has committed to building new factories in Japan, Germany, and Arizona over the past four years.

The company says its campus on the northern outskirts of Phoenix will eventually house three factories. Work began in 2021, but stalled as construction unions in Arizona raised safety concerns and objected to TSMC bringing workers from Taiwan to help install sophisticated equipment. The first factory is now expected to begin producing chips in 2025, and the second in 2028. Federal officials have said they expect that TSMC’s planned facility in Arizona will create 6,000 jobs in chip manufacturing and more than 20,000 construction jobs.

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Editor：Vicky

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