Relationships in academia are the driving force behind TSMC Arizona’s robust internship program.
It’s fitting that TSMC Arizona Corporation’s 2025 Campus Recruitment Tour carries the slogan “together we grow,” because the semiconductor giant is committed to just that: growing the next generation of semiconductor industry leaders.
The company kicked off its internship program in May 2024 when it welcomed its first cohort of summer interns in Phoenix. They numbered 130 students, taking coursework in 22 different majors at 40 universities across the United States. Participants were full members of their teams at TSMC Arizona, digging into pressing challenges alongside staff members. In all, they spent 10 weeks working at the semiconductor fabs, learning the skills they need to lead America’s chipmaking efforts in the future.
In addition to hands-on experience working in the field, some of the internships come with a 10-week technical development program led by senior engineers and executives and held on-site at the TSMC Arizona fabs. The program provides valuable insight into the industry and matches students with a mentor. It also helps TSMC Arizona identify people who are a good fit for permanent engineering roles at the organization, making the internship experience a viable pathway to employment in the semiconductor industry.
But the interns don’t just work on TSMC Arizona’s campus. The 2024 cohort also ventured out into the local community, joining forces with young students at the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley to design, build, and race robotic vehicles. They simultaneously gained a deeper understanding of their craft and got to invest energy into a community that pours into them and TSMC Arizona.
Changing the Chipmaking Game
TSMC Arizona is five years into its commitment to increase the United States’ production of semiconductor chips. The company has pledged a total investment of more than $65 billion in Phoenix, where it is building three leading-edge fabrications, or semiconductor production facilities, on its 1,129-acre campus. It’s the largest foreign direct investment in a greenfield project in the history of the nation, and it’s projected to create 6,000 direct jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs by 2030 in both technical and non-technical fields.
The investment comes as part of a $6.6 billion grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce via the CHIPS and Science Act, a 2022 bipartisan bill that seeks to give the United States an advantage in the global technology race.
“Entering this phase of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act marks a pivotal step in strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem in the United States,” says TSMC chairman and CEO Dr. C.C. Wei. “TSMC appreciates the continued collaboration with customers, partners, local communities, and the U.S. government beginning in early 2020. The signing of this agreement helps us to accelerate the development of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology available in the U.S.”
TSMC Arizona Driving Innovation
But the company isn’t just making a financial investment in the United States. It’s investing in people, too. TSMC Arizona has forged partnerships with local community colleges and universities across the country to upskill students and create a robust, long-term pipeline of future semiconductor experts. Nowhere is that collaboration more fully realized than at Arizona State University.
ASU is the No. 1 supplier of talent to TSMC Arizona, with more than 7,000 students currently studying in microelectronics-related fields. In fact, many of the company’s earliest hires since it began recruiting in 2020 were actually ASU graduates who were sent to complete training in TSMC’s Taiwan facilities over the course of several months before settling into their roles in Phoenix.
In 2023, TSMC Arizona and ASU further formalized their relationship via a partnership agreement focused on increased student support, enhanced training, and recruitment, and facilitated faculty work projects and research, deepening their existing collaboration in ways that will benefit students for years to come.
“We have been working closely for a couple of years to carefully define what TSMC needs from ASU and how we can deliver on that for the company and for the greater Phoenix community,” says Grace O’Sullivan, vice president of corporate engagement for ASU. “There is a lot more work to do, but we are learning how best to collaborate and we have built a foundation for long-term success.”
The partnership was an easy choice for TSMC Arizona executives. “When making the decision to expand in the U.S., one of the considerations was access to world-class engineering talent to help us operate the most sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing technology in the world. We also know that ASU is uniquely equipped to help shape the next generation of talent prepared to unleash new innovations fueled by semiconductor technology,” says Rose Castanares, president of TSMC Arizona.
In addition to the internship program, the university and company have worked together on career fairs, research, an apprenticeship program, and more, moving beyond activities that are beneficial within their walls to innovate and bolster the industry as a whole.
Crafting the Future
TSMC Arizona is dedicated to connecting with its next cohort of interns. In January 2025, it kicked off its United States University Recruiting Tour, where employees visit college campuses to tell students about internship opportunities with the world’s leading semiconductor producer. The 13-school tour started on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, and will end at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in late February. There are also four virtual sessions along the way, designed for students at other schools who are interested in joining the TSMC Arizona family.
And the internship program isn’t just for engineering students. For 2025, TSMC Arizona is looking for interns who are interested in working in research and development, operations, and strategy and support. To that end, there are internships available in both technical and nontechnical roles, ranging from working with process integration engineers, to helping customers reach a successful full life cycle with the products, to supporting the legal and human resource teams.
While educational requirements vary by department, TSMC Arizona welcomes interns who are reliable, good communicators, team players, and enthusiastic about working in the semiconductor industry.
