Arizona
Arizona exhibits network effects like a coral reef: TSMC's $65B investment attracted 107 chip makers and 140,000 jobs, becoming America's semiconductor epicenter.
Arizona is experiencing economic phase transition as semiconductors reshape the desert economy. In five years, $200 billion in private investment has poured into the state, anchored by TSMC's $65 billion commitment to build three fabrication facilities in Phoenix—the largest foreign greenfield investment in American history. This concentration represents classic network effects: once TSMC chose Arizona, 107 semiconductor makers followed, creating an ecosystem that now includes 140,000 chip-related jobs.
The federal government catalyzed this transformation through $6.6 billion in CHIPS Act funding, functioning like a keystone resource that enables ecosystem expansion. ASU's 30,000-student engineering program—the nation's largest, with 7,000 focused on microelectronics—operates as a reproductive colony producing the specialized workforce that fabs require. Production at TSMC's first fab began in early 2025, with a third facility breaking ground in April targeting cutting-edge N2 and A16 process technologies.
What makes Arizona's semiconductor surge noteworthy isn't just scale but timing: the state rose to #1 in Business Facilities Magazine's semiconductor rankings precisely as supply chain concerns made domestic chip production a national security priority. SEMICON West's 2025 move from Silicon Valley to Phoenix—drawing 35,000 attendees—signals a geographic shift in the industry's center of gravity. With semiconductors now the state's second-largest export at $3.5 billion and construction continuing across four fabrication facilities, Arizona demonstrates how positive feedback loops can transform a retirement destination into America's chip-making heartland within a single decade.