The next AMD Ryzen CPUs and Nvidia GPUs may be manufactured in the United States. Under an agreement between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) and the U.S. government, a $12 billion plant has been given the go-ahead to begin construction next year in Arizona.

The plant will be completed by 2024, at which point it will be capable of producing up to 20,000 wafers per month. The new plant will be responsible for the production of 5nm chips, the smallest and most advanced silicon currently in the early stages of production. [This project is critical and strategic to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that will enable leading U.S. companies to manufacture state-of-the-art semiconductor products in the U.S. and benefit from the proximity of world-class semiconductor foundries and ecosystems." TSMC stated in a press release.

The first processors expected from the company's 5nm process will likely be AMD's Zen 4 chips, although these are expected long before the Arizona plant is ready for production.

AMD currently uses TSMC to manufacture Zen 2 processors and RDNA GPUs. These utilize the 7nm process node and will soon transition to the enhanced 7nm node Zen 3 processor and RDNA 2 GPU.

Nvidia is another TSMC customer, and the latest Nvidia Ampere architecture utilizes TSMC's 7nm process. The RTX 20 series, some of the best graphics cards available today, are manufactured using the company's 12nm process.

Intel is also in talks with the U.S. government about the possibility of supporting factory construction in the U.S., where some of its manufacturing operations are already based. This is according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which reported that White House officials are discussing the possibility of further U.S. basing with major chipmakers to reduce U.S. reliance on overseas chip manufacturing.

So perhaps TSMC's contract for a new U.S. plant will focus on what is important to national security rather than what makes the game work.

TSMC currently operates another plant in the US under the name "WaferTech" in Camas, Washington. This plant began production in 1998.