How many construction jobs will TSMC create in Arizona?

TSMC’s March 4, 2025 press release states that its expanded investment “is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years.” That is a company projection tied to a total US investment expected to reach $165 billion, not a hiring commitment. Separately, ASU economist Anthony Howell estimated a further $100 billion of investment would generate 10,000 to 12,000 construction jobs and about 12,000 more once the facilities are operational, per AZFamily reporting from July 16, 2026.

Is Arizona short of construction workers in 2026?

Yes, by every available measure. Economist Jim Rounds of Rounds Consulting Group projected Arizona will be short about 10,000 workers per year going forward, with the shortfall compounding to roughly 20,000 and then 30,000 by year three (AZFamily, July 16, 2026). Nationally, the Associated General Contractors of America found 82% of construction firms had difficulty filling hourly craft positions heading into 2026, the highest share in three years.

Which trades do chip fabs and data centers hire?

Mostly ordinary construction trades, in large numbers. Sitework and concrete come first, then structural steel and ironwork, then the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trades that make a building run, electricians, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, operating engineers, alongside general laborers throughout. Specialist tool-install work is a late and comparatively small share of headcount. A hand with concrete or electrical experience is far closer to this work than the word “semiconductor” suggests.

Do I need experience to work on a big Phoenix project?

Not for every role. Large projects run large general-labor scopes, cleanup, material handling, concrete support, that hire and train on site, which is exactly the category the labor shortage has forced open. What tends to be required regardless of experience is site-safety orientation, reliable transport to a site that may sit well outside the city, and the documents payroll needs to put you on the books.

What do construction trades pay in Phoenix right now?

Per BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro, May 2025: construction supervisors earn a $38.38 median hourly wage, plumbers and pipefitters $30.65, operating engineers $30.07, electricians $29.43, carpenters $29.00 and cement masons $28.49. Construction laborers sit at a $22.56 median. Top-decile figures run several dollars an hour above each median.

Should I trust the 40,000 jobs number?

Treat it as a projection, not a promise. It is TSMC’s own figure from a press release announcing an investment, and the company has revised both timelines and totals more than once. The announced US investment moved from $65 billion to $165 billion in March 2025. The more reliable signal for a working hand is not any single headline number but the shortage underneath it: firms that cannot staff the work they already have are the ones that hire people without perfect resumes.

How do I get on a crew working these projects?

Most large-project hiring still runs through the subcontractors doing each scope, not through the owner. That means getting known to concrete, steel, electrical and mechanical subs in your part of the Valley, being reachable by phone, and being specific about one trade rather than saying you will do anything. Being findable before a vacancy exists matters more than any application, because a foreman short a hand on Friday fills it by calling somebody, not by posting a listing.

Trade worker guide

Arizona’s Construction Boom in 2026

The FindAZPros TeamPhoenix, AZ contractor directorySeptember 1, 202610 min read

Key takeaways

TSMC stated in its March 4, 2025 press release that its expanded investment “is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years,” as part of a total US investment expected to reach $165 billion.
ASU economist Anthony Howell estimated that a further $100 billion of TSMC investment would generate 10,000 to 12,000 construction jobs, plus about 12,000 more once the facilities are running (AZFamily, July 16, 2026).
Economist Jim Rounds of Rounds Consulting Group projected Arizona will be “short about 10,000 workers per year going forward,” with the gap compounding to roughly 20,000 and then 30,000 by year three (AZFamily, July 16, 2026).
The Associated General Contractors of America found 82% of construction firms had difficulty filling hourly craft positions heading into 2026, the highest share in three years.
A megaproject does not mainly hire semiconductor specialists. It hires concrete finishers, ironworkers, operating engineers, electricians, pipefitters and laborers, ordinary construction trades in ordinary numbers.
Phoenix construction supervisors earn a $38.38 median hourly wage and plumbers and pipefitters $30.65, per BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for May 2025.
Every jobs figure on this page is a projection by a company or an economist, not a guarantee, and TSMC’s own timelines and totals have moved more than once.

In its March 4, 2025 press release, TSMC stated that its expanded investment “is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years.” That is one company, in one part of the Valley. The number worth paying attention to is the other one: Arizona is projected to be short about 10,000 construction workers a year, and the shortfall compounds.

Why is there suddenly so much construction work in Phoenix?

Because several very large capital projects landed in the same metro at the same time. TSMC’s March 2025 announcement raised its total US investment to an expected $165 billion, covering three new fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities and an R&D center, which the company described as the largest single foreign direct investment in US history. Around it sit data centers, the suppliers that follow a fab, and the housing and roads that follow the payroll. None of that gets built without hands, and the hands are what Arizona does not have enough of.

This matters to a working tradesman for a reason that has nothing to do with semiconductors. When a metro has more booked work than available labor, the people already doing the work gain leverage they did not have two years ago, on pay, on which crew they join, and on how much a foreman is willing to overlook on a resume.

How short of workers is Arizona actually?

Short enough that economists describe it as compounding rather than as a gap. Speaking to AZFamily on July 16, 2026, economist Jim Rounds of Rounds Consulting Group put it plainly: “We’re going to be short about 10,000 workers per year going forward, and it’s not just 10,000 by year two, it’s 20,000, then 30,000 by year three.” A shortage that stacks year over year does not resolve itself by someone finishing a training program. It resolves by firms lowering what they insist on at the door.

The national picture agrees. The Associated General Contractors of America found that 82% of construction firms had difficulty filling hourly craft positions heading into 2026, the highest share in three years, and Associated Builders and Contractors put the national requirement at 349,000 net new workers in 2026.

Which trades does a chip fab or data center actually need?

Ordinary ones, which is the part most people get wrong. A fab is a very large industrial building before it is anything else. The sequence runs sitework and earthmoving, then concrete in enormous volume, then structural steel and ironwork, then the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trades that make the building function, electricians, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, operating engineers, with general laborers running throughout. The specialist tool-install work everybody pictures is late in the schedule and small next to the trades above it.

If you pour concrete, tie steel, run pipe or pull wire, you are already in the trade this work needs. You do not need a new career; you need to be findable by the subcontractors bidding the scopes.

What does construction work pay in Phoenix right now?

Better at the top than most people outside the trades assume, and the spread within a single trade is wide. The figures below are median and top-decile hourly wages for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Read the top-decile column as what the trade pays somebody experienced and reliable, not as a theoretical ceiling, one in ten people in that occupation in this metro is at or above it.


Construction supervisors / foremen	$38.38	$49.82	Runs a crew on a scope
Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters	$30.65	$48.42	Process and utility piping
Operating engineers / heavy equipment	$30.07	$39.05	Sitework and earthmoving, first on
Electricians	$29.43	$41.73	Power distribution throughout
Carpenters	$29.00	$37.40	Formwork for concrete
Structural iron & steel workers	$28.63	$44.36	Frame, after the slab
Cement masons & concrete finishers	$28.49	$37.71	Slabs and foundations, huge volume
Sheet metal workers	$24.63	$39.23	Duct and mechanical fit-out
Construction laborers	$22.56	$29.93	Every phase, every day

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro, May 2025. A fuller trade-by-trade breakdown is in the highest-paying trades in Phoenix.

Can you get on this work without experience?

For some of it, yes, and the shortage is the reason. Large projects run large general-labor scopes, cleanup, material handling, concrete support, traffic control, that are taught on site because they have to be. What gets asked for instead of experience is a site-safety orientation, transport you control to a site that may sit well outside the city, and documents in hand so payroll can run on day one. If you are starting cold, the fastest routes in are concrete support and general labor, both covered in construction jobs in Phoenix with no experience.

How do you get on one of these crews without a connection?

By being findable to the subcontractors, not the owner. Almost nobody is hired onto a megaproject by the company whose name is on it. The work is split into scopes and each scope is bid by a subcontractor who staffs it from people they can reach. So the useful move is narrow: pick one trade, name one part of the Valley you can reliably reach, and make sure a foreman short a hand on Friday can find your phone number before he calls somebody he used last month. That is the whole mechanism, and it is covered in detail in how to get on a construction crew in Phoenix.

FindAZPros exists for that specific gap. Listing yourself takes about two minutes, costs nothing, needs no login, and puts your trade and your area in front of companies looking for a hand. You can also see what is actually open right now before you decide which trade to aim at.

What could go wrong with these projections?

Plenty, and it is worth being straight about it. Every jobs figure on this page is a projection by a company or an economist rather than a guarantee. TSMC’s own numbers have moved repeatedly. The announced US investment went from $65 billion to $165 billion in a single March 2025 release, and production timelines for later fabs have shifted more than once. Megaproject schedules slip, scopes get rephased, and a crew can be busy one quarter and waiting the next.

The durable part is not the headline. It is the shortage: a state short 10,000 workers a year, and firms that cannot fill the work already on their books. That condition favors anybody with a trade and a phone long after any single project tops out.

Sources

TSMC, “TSMC Intends to Expand Its Investment in the United States to US$165 Billion” , press release, March 4, 2025. Source of the 40,000 construction jobs and $165 billion figures.
AZFamily, “Does Arizona have enough workers for TSMC’s Phoenix expansion?” , July 16, 2026. Source of the Anthony Howell (ASU) and Jim Rounds (Rounds Consulting Group) estimates.
Associated General Contractors of America, 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook , source of the 82% craft-hiring difficulty figure.
Associated Builders and Contractors, “Construction Industry Must Attract 349,000 Workers in 2026”.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, May 2025 . All wage figures.

Frequently asked questions

How many construction jobs will TSMC create in Arizona?: TSMC’s March 4, 2025 press release states that its expanded investment “is expected to support 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years.” That is a company projection tied to a total US investment expected to reach $165 billion, not a hiring commitment. Separately, ASU economist Anthony Howell estimated a further $100 billion of investment would generate 10,000 to 12,000 construction jobs and about 12,000 more once the facilities are operational, per AZFamily reporting from July 16, 2026.
Is Arizona short of construction workers in 2026?: Yes, by every available measure. Economist Jim Rounds of Rounds Consulting Group projected Arizona will be short about 10,000 workers per year going forward, with the shortfall compounding to roughly 20,000 and then 30,000 by year three (AZFamily, July 16, 2026). Nationally, the Associated General Contractors of America found 82% of construction firms had difficulty filling hourly craft positions heading into 2026, the highest share in three years.
Which trades do chip fabs and data centers hire?: Mostly ordinary construction trades, in large numbers. Sitework and concrete come first, then structural steel and ironwork, then the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trades that make a building run, electricians, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, operating engineers, alongside general laborers throughout. Specialist tool-install work is a late and comparatively small share of headcount. A hand with concrete or electrical experience is far closer to this work than the word “semiconductor” suggests.
Do I need experience to work on a big Phoenix project?: Not for every role. Large projects run large general-labor scopes, cleanup, material handling, concrete support, that hire and train on site, which is exactly the category the labor shortage has forced open. What tends to be required regardless of experience is site-safety orientation, reliable transport to a site that may sit well outside the city, and the documents payroll needs to put you on the books.
What do construction trades pay in Phoenix right now?: Per BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro, May 2025: construction supervisors earn a $38.38 median hourly wage, plumbers and pipefitters $30.65, operating engineers $30.07, electricians $29.43, carpenters $29.00 and cement masons $28.49. Construction laborers sit at a $22.56 median. Top-decile figures run several dollars an hour above each median.
Should I trust the 40,000 jobs number?: Treat it as a projection, not a promise. It is TSMC’s own figure from a press release announcing an investment, and the company has revised both timelines and totals more than once. The announced US investment moved from $65 billion to $165 billion in March 2025. The more reliable signal for a working hand is not any single headline number but the shortage underneath it: firms that cannot staff the work they already have are the ones that hire people without perfect resumes.
How do I get on a crew working these projects?: Most large-project hiring still runs through the subcontractors doing each scope, not through the owner. That means getting known to concrete, steel, electrical and mechanical subs in your part of the Valley, being reachable by phone, and being specific about one trade rather than saying you will do anything. Being findable before a vacancy exists matters more than any application, because a foreman short a hand on Friday fills it by calling somebody, not by posting a listing.