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- TSMC's $100B fuels U.S. chip boom
Good morning, tech enthusiasts. TSMC is investing $100B to expand its U.S. operations—one of the largest foreign bets on America.
Following Apple’s $500B pledge, the chipmaking giant is all in on “Made in USA” and creating thousands of jobs. Of course, new U.S. tariffs on foreign goods kicking off today make the timing no accident.
In today’s tech rundown:
TSMC’s $100B bet on the U.S.
Apple teases new MacBook Air
Microsoft shutting down Skype
SPHEREx mapping the universe
Quick hits on other major news
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
TSMC
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, announced at a press conference alongside President Trump that it will invest $100B over four years to expand its U.S. operations.
The details:
The planned expansion will see the development of three semiconductor fabrication plants, two packaging facilities, and a major R&D center in Arizona.
It is expected to create 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years and tens of thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs.
TSMC began producing 4nm chips in Arizona in January, but the future plants are expected to make chips using 2nm or other advanced technologies.
The $100B follows TSMC’s $65B pledged last year—taking its total U.S. investment to $165B. It also secured $6.6B in federal funding in 2024.
Why it matters: The move by TSMC, a key supplier to Nvidia, Intel, and Apple, is set to boost U.S. economic output by over $200 billion in the next decade. President Trump, who plans new tariffs on semiconductors as soon as April, described the massive investment as “a matter of economic security.”
APPLE
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Apple CEO Tim Cook teased the launch of a device this week with a short teaser on X that read, “There’s something in the Air” — the not-so-subtle clue that a new MacBook Air is on its way.
The details:
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the new MacBook Air will come with an upgraded M4 chip and in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch.
Other expected upgrades are RAM configurations up to 32GB, faster memory bandwidth, two additional CPU cores, and a 12 MP center stage camera.
The MacBook Air refresh could also offer support for running two external displays with the lid open, much like the M4 MacBook Pro.
Finally, it may also use an enhanced Neural Engine, paving the way for Apple Intelligence features like notification summaries and more.
Why it matters: While it remains to be seen what exactly Apple has up its sleeve, the M4-powered MacBook Air is the most expected candidate. With this chip, Apple could future-proof MacBook Air for Apple Intelligence. The company is also rumored to be working on other Air devices, including iPads, keyboards, and maybe even an iPhone.
MICROSOFT
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Microsoft announced that it is shutting down its once-popular video calling service, Skype, on May 5—replacing it with a free-to-use version of Microsoft Teams for consumers.
The details:
Skype users can now log in to the Teams app to access their message history and contacts or opt to export their data before Skype goes away.
One major change here is that Microsoft is sunsetting the paid telephony parts of Skype that allowed you to call domestic or international numbers.
Microsoft bought Skype from eBay for $8.5B in 2011, marking its largest acquisition at the time.
However, despite its initial dominance, Skype struggled to compete with new-age offerings in the market, including Zoom, WhatsApp, and Google Meet.
Why it matters: Since Microsoft shut down Skype for Business in 2021, it’s safe to say that the move to wind down the consumer version has also been in the works for a while. The platform leaves a lasting legacy—being one of the first to pioneer end-to-end encryption, which is now a standard in most messaging services.
NASA
Image source: NASA
The Rundown: This week, NASA is launching its latest space telescope, SPHEREx, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to capture the world’s most complete sky survey and better understand how the universe evolved over several billion years.
The details:
The $488M SPHEREx mission will observe over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars to gather data on cosmic inflation and the origins of the universe.
It will sit in low Earth orbit and produce a map of the entire sky in 102 different color bands, far exceeding the color resolution of previous all-sky maps.
The mission will measure the light from galaxies—including those billions of light years away—to understand how they took shape in the early universe.
Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SPHEREx will also search for water and organic molecules in deep space to complement future missions.
Why it matters: SPHEREx will map the entire sky, giving unprecedented insights into the evolution of the universe and our Milky Way. This could ultimately help scientists figure out what conditions led to the birth of our planet and search for those signs in the darkness of the universe—to find potentially habitable planets, maybe even life.
QUICK HITS
📰 Everything else in tech today
AI startup Anthropic closed a massive $3.5B Series E funding round and tripled its valuation to $61.5B.
AI infrastructure firm CoreWeave, providing cloud-based GPUs to companies like Meta and Microsoft, filed for an IPO, aiming to raise $4B at a $35B+ valuation.
Fintech startup Ramp announced that it has nearly doubled its valuation to $13B after a $150M secondary share sale.
Adobe released a powerful Photoshop app for iPhone for free, with an Android version expected to arrive later this year.
Mozilla revised the Terms of Use for its Firefox browser after users raised alarms over an update indicating the company sought rights to all data entered or uploaded.
Lenovo unveiled a new concept laptop, the Yoga Solar PC, featuring a solar panel with an impressive 24% conversion rate.
Uber is piloting a teen-focused service in India that lets parents set up accounts for their kids with additional live safety features.
Smartphone maker Xiaomi secured 10,000 orders in just 3 days for its first premium EV—the SU7 Ultra.
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See you soon,
Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team
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