The “buddy developers”: Halo Vista’s north end, along Carefree Highway, is closest to Anthem – with the giant TSMC looming in the background.
(Tom Scanlon/Staff)
All that was missing: popcorn.
A theater-sized auditorium in North Phoenix was packed for what could be called “a development buddy picture.”
Though not quite a standing ovation, the rapt audience gave “The TSMC and Halo Vista Show” a warm response.
This would hardly have been the case in neighboring Scottsdale.
In the last two decades, Axon became the unchallenged leader in non-lethal weapons, marketing its Taser stun guns to law enforcement agencies across the world.
Founded by Rick Smith, who went to high school a few miles away, Axon operated at its North Scottsdale headquarters in relative obscurity.
Until, that is, Smith announced plans for a massive multi-use expansion, with a spaceship-themed office surrounded by apartment buildings and a hotel.
Despite outcry from neighbors and others in the community, Scottsdale City Council approved his plan in late 2024.
Yet the project has been hotly contested since. After 25,000 signatures would have forced a referendum, Axon went to the state legislature, getting support for “The Axon Bill” – allowing it to build without opposition.
That law and a subsequent agreement with the city are being challenged in court.
Meanwhile, Scottsdale City Councilman Barry Graham – who voted against the development and testified at the state capitol it would be horrific for the city – is accusing Axon of funding “attack ads” to derail his reelection bid.
Though its sales are approaching $3 billion, Axon is dwarfed by TSMC’s 2025 revenue of $122 billion.
Similarly, Axon’s development plan is a shot glass, compared to the pitcher TSMC is filling.
With three of six major production facilities under construction, TSMC is speeding into a $165 billion expansion that will bring more jobs and chips to the foothills.
Yet there was hardly a hint of the Axon vs. Scottsdale antipathy at the June 11 North Gateway Village meeting, which featured an update on TSMC – and its “little buddy” Halo Vista.
The presentation took place at the Goelet A. Beuf Community Center, where the North Gateway Village Planning Committee generally meets monthly.
Paul Li, an attorney with TSMC, gave an update on the multi-billion dollar project in North Phoenix – showing the chip making giant is just getting started.
(Tom Scanlon/Staff)
The number of committee members usually outweighs the audience; such was not the case June 11, when staff members kept bringing in more chairs to facilitate the standing-room-only crowd.
Buddy pictures typically feature “mismatched heroes,” from unhinged Mel Gibson and by-the-book Danny Glover in “Lethal Weapon” to awkward Ryan Gosling and macho-man Russell Crowe in “The Other Guys.”
The mismatch in the North Gateway Village development picture is mainly in size and scope, as TSMC is the powerhouse mammoth – with Halo Vista the admitted sidekick.
In many cities, the Halo Vista project itself would be considered massive.
Across Deer Valley Road from TSMC and surfing on the tech powerhouse’s tsunami-sized wave, Halo Vista is a mixed-use community bordering the chip manufacturer.
Mack Real Estate Group and McCourt Partners are partners on the Halo Vista project.
“The first phase of the $7 billion project will focus on horizontal infrastructure and site preparation, with Willmeng Construction leading the work,” according to a Halo Vista press release.
Mack Real Estate Group acquired the desert land for Halo Vista in an Arizona State Land Department auction in May 2024, paying $56 million.
Halo Vista is expected to ultimately include about 30 million square feet of commercial space — including industrial, retail, office, research, healthcare and hospitality uses — and nearly 9,000 residential units.
As such, Halo Vista’s “city within a city” slogan is not just a boast: It likely will have a population greater than the 22,000 or so who live in Anthem.
As the agenda promised, the meeting featured a “presentation and discussion regarding an update on the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) development.”
According to a recent Reuters story, “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co plans to open a chip packaging plant in Arizona by 2029, an executive told Reuters.”
If you’re not familiar with the company, its website gives a summary: “TSMC has been the world’s dedicated semiconductor foundry since 1987, and we support a thriving ecosystem of global customers …”
Meet the development twins: TSMC and Halo Vista, both ready to change the doorstep to Anthem.
(Tom Scanlon/Staff)
‘$165B unicorn’
As Carla Scott, of the city of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department, noted in her introduction, “the growth here is explosive, and it’s growing so fast that the research and the numbers can’t keep up with it.”
She had a funny way of referring to TSMC:
“Our little $165 billion unicorn that’s up the road.
“They’ve attracted more than 30 businesses that want to be close to TSMC in North Phoenix,” Scott said.
“Each of those have their own capital investment in the hundreds of millions.”
One of those tag-alongs is Halo Vista.
“Last month, we signed an amendment with Halo Vista for public infrastructure improvements,” Scott said.
“And there is an upcoming land sale on the southeast corner of I-17 and Carefree Highway for about 175 acres. That auction date is expected to be June 26 … and the uses are retail.”
George Pasquel, an attorney representing Halo Vista developer Mack Real Estate, followed that impressive introduction.
“We’re here for just an informal update,” he began. “I hate to disappoint, but I think most of our updates you’ve probably already heard in the news.
“We don’t have anything really groundbreaking today – except our groundbreaking,” he quipped, referring to the recent press event launching the project.
In six months to a year, he teased, “there’s a lot coming, and we’ve got a lot in the pipeline as well that’ll probably be a little more exciting than tonight’s presentation.”
He ran through an outline of Halo Vista, a 2,400 acre “master planned community …
“It’s really meant to be a supporting ecosystem for TSMC. It’s also designed to be a live-work-innovate district.”
Pasquel stressed Halo Vista will be moving dirt for a long time.
“This is not a two-year deal, or a five-year deal. This is a 15-20 year build out … and could add up to 30 million square feet of development.”
After a groundbreaking in the spring, construction work is accelerating on the Halo Vista project.
(Tom Scanlon/Staff)
Halo Vista could add up to 70,000 jobs and 9,000 residential units, the lawyer said.
Costco plans to build a site at Halo Vista, with an auto mall fronting Carefree Highway.
Halo Vista will also have hotels, retail and restaurants, Pasquel said.
After the presentation, several audience members posed questions focused on water, sewer lines and roads.
Representatives of Mack Real Estate Group were somewhat vague, here.
Regarding water and sewer services, “We know we have enough for the supply to get us going, and there’s plans for the future …”
Mack representatives said the company is working with the city of Phoenix on water and sewer services for the buildout and the Arizona Department of Transportation regarding required road improvements – including the widening of Carefree Highway west of the I-17.
TMSC
About that “unicorn” …
Paul Li, an attorney with TSMC who is also a member of the North Gateway Village Planning Committee, gave an update on the multi-billion dollar project in North Phoenix – showing the chip making giant is just getting started.
Like the Halo Vista presentation, this was more a review of what TSMC has done, with a few hints of where it is headed.
Why did TSMC start thinking more than a decade ago of expanding from Taiwan – where it was founded in 1987, as a joint venture between the Taiwanese government, Dutch electronics giant Philips and private investors – to North Phoenix?
As usual, the answer can be summarized in a word: money.
“Seventy-five percent of the TSMC revenue comes from U.S. customers,” Li noted. “And the chips we manufacture are in technology applications, including high-performing computing and AI, smartphones … smart watches, smart thermometers, and things of the nature, colors, and digital consumer electronics.”
Li jogged through some of the numbers:
•TSMC Phoenix includes six semiconductor wafer fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and research and development facilities.
•The first fab, producing M4 chips, has been in full production since the end of 2024.
•Production of the second fab, using N3 technology, started last year.
•The third fab, using N5 technology, is expected to begin production by 2030.
•TSMC currently employs 3,500 people, forecasted to grow to 6,000. The company actively recruits locally and nationally, including a technician intensive program.
•TSMC recycles 65% of its wastewater and aims for zero discharge with the IRWP – the Industrial Reclamation Water Plant being built near 43rd Avenue and Dove Valley Road.
That last note was hammered home by Li.
“If you think about it, every three drops of water coming out of our production – two of them will go back to our production process,” he said.
“And that’s today. When we complete our Industrial Reclaimed Water Plant, or IRWP, we are aiming for zero discharge – meaning that 90% or better of our wastewater will go back to our manufacturing process.
“That will certainly save a lot of water … we understand we live in the desert, we want to be able to steward the resources.”
Like a sci-fi monster, TSMC is still growing.
“The city of Phoenix approved the rezoning of the North Park (area) last December,” Li noted. “After the rezoning approval, TSMC was fortunate to acquire approximately 900 acres of the North Park in January of this year.
“Sometime this month, we’ll do some grading of the area …”