My View: New York Times skewers Arizona’s semiconductor industry

A recent New York Times article painted a picture of Arizona’s semiconductor expansion unrecognizable to those of us who live and work within the ecosystem daily. The story suggests Arizona lacks the workforce, infrastructure, expertise and certainty needed to support advanced chip manufacturing. Most of that narrative is false, and it reads as if reporting was conducted far from the state the article attempts to describe.

Let’s start with the most fundamental point: Arizona has been a cornerstone of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing for decades. The industry did not suddenly arrive when TSMC broke ground. Motorola opened its first semiconductor operations here in the 1950s following the launch of its research lab in 1949. Intel has been expanding continuously since 1980 and now employs more than 10,000 Arizonans. Microchip, ON Semiconductor (Onsemi), NXP, ASM, ASML, Medtronic and a long list of suppliers were here long before the current wave of investment. Today Arizona is home to approximately 280 semiconductor and semiconductor-adjacent companies employing more than 40,000 people, a fact the article mentions but fails to contextualize.

To read the Times piece “18,000 Reasons It’s So Hard to Build a Chip Factory in America,” one might assume Arizona is puzzling over how to build a semiconductor plant for the first time. The reality is we have one of the deepest and most experienced advanced manufacturing workforces in the country, which is precisely why so many global companies choose to grow here.

Workforce: Article misses the entire story

The reporters suggest Arizona lacks a high skilled workforce, but the facts tell a different story.

Arizona State University has increased its engineering enrollment from 6,000 to more than 33,000 students in just 15 years—the fastest expansion of engineering training in the United States. Maricopa Community Colleges, built in partnership with industry, operates one of the nation’s leading semiconductor technician training programs. Pima Community College and Northern Arizona University produce highly specialized manufacturing and optics talent every semester. These programs were not created because Arizona was unprepared. They were expanded because our state is already a national leader.

Are there workforce challenges? Of course, because advanced manufacturing is booming here. Growth does not mean failure. It means demand is outpacing even aggressive investments in training pipelines. And unlike what the Times implies, TSMC, Intel and Amkor are all hiring thousands of American workers at competitive wages.

Regulation and permitting: Issue overstated

Anyone who has developed major industrial projects in the United States knows environmental and permitting responsibilities are complex. This is true everywhere, not just here. The article portrays Arizona as uniquely bureaucratic. That is inaccurate. In fact:

The suggestion that companies arrive in Arizona “not knowing the rules of the game” ignores the hundreds of successful expansions completed here by Intel, Honeywell, Raytheon, NXP, Northrop Grumman and others. These firms operate complex regulated facilities without chronic delays.

Water and infrastructure: Critical facts omitted

The Times highlights water usage but does not acknowledge what TSMC, Intel and others have stated publicly for years. Arizona semiconductor fabs use less water per chip than nearly anywhere else in the world. Like Intel, TSMC is investing heavily in water treatment systems designed to recycle up to 90% of the water used on site.

In other words, the system works exactly as intended. Arizona has paired environmental stewardship with industrial innovation.

Local concerns around growth are understandable. But the article frames isolated disputes as widespread resistance to manufacturing. That is incorrect. Arizona’s semiconductor expansion enjoys broad bipartisan, business, university and community support. The overwhelming majority of projects move forward through collaboration, not confrontation.

The real story: Arizona now a national asset

TSMC’s investment, combined with Intel, Amkor and our vast supplier ecosystem, positions Arizona as one of the most strategically important semiconductor regions in the world. Companies are not here because of tariffs or geopolitics alone. They are here because Arizona has the workforce, universities, manufacturing legacy, logistics and infrastructure, and policy environment that advanced industries need to thrive.

The article ends by implying America’s semiconductor future may be undermined by inertia. That notion overlooks the evidence in front of us. Arizona is experiencing the largest expansion of high tech manufacturing in state history. Billions in new payroll, thousands of high-skill jobs and world class innovation hubs are emerging from what the article incorrectly describes as “empty desert.”

The truth is the opposite. Arizona is proving what is possible when government, industry and academia work together. That is the real story, and it deserves to be told accurately.

Steve Zylstra is president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council.