Some portions have been covered by a few people here but from a facilities standpoint the most important requirements for semiconductor fabrication are, having 20+ years in the field:
Access to large amounts of reliable electricity production
Access to large amounts of clean water, most of it will need be to be pre-treated and de-ioninized before use. yes every fab tries to recycle 70+% of the water they use, not only to be a good environmental neighbor but also the cost of obtaining the amount needed.
Seismic stability, when trying to place feature with near atomic level accuracy even a passing train can impact production
Temperature and Humidity Control - Many critical processes and chemicals used require an operating range of 19-23 degrees C for stability of chemical and control within +/-0.02 degrees to avoid unwanted features like expansion/contraction of tool components (talking about you reticles and litho lenses). Humidity must be controlled for similar reasons
Airborne contamination control, to prevent defects from impacting device operation, less of a concern in last 10 years as we've moved to more microenviroment FOUP/FOSB use.
From a geopolitical standpoint there are other issues to consider:
Access to talented and trained workforce (main point of this article I believe TSMC was referencing)
Favorable tax/investment environment (how $10+ Billion in capital equiment needed for modern fab is treated is important)
Access to transport for raw material needed (silicon wafers, bulk chemicals, etc), can by by sea, land or air
Distance to critical suppliers/vendors for items mentioned above (usually most ancillary suppliers will build their own facilities close to new fabs, but if existing infrastructure already exists, very handy)
Access to R&D centers for transfer of new/revised processes.
This is not exhaustive, but covers many of the main considerations. For these reasons it is why historically most new fabs are built near existing ones for a company if land is available and many competing fabs can be found clustered nearby to each other in the US (e.g. AZ, TX, NY, VA, OR, formerly CA) and only occasionally in completely new greenfield locations (Intel in OH).
eskimou is Spot on and painted a nice high level picture! The competition is stiff for the engineers and support staff that can install tools to a specific semiconductor mfg's specs. The TSMC installers work with the tool vendors to configure the tool to their specific design and facilitate that tool. It is not uncommon for a build of a greenfield fab to run into issues, shortages, and other challenges. Now insert every major player is building factories in the US, making the trained technical support, vendors, and even silica in high demand (more difficult to get).
The side topic - Complaints about water usage are real. Despite the efforts to "recycle" water, that is not maybe what the average person has in mind when they think of recycling. If the fab brings in a volume of water, they treat some portion of that water to purify it to very high standards (ultrapure water). I discard the impurities and send the UPW to my fabrication tools. Lets say I am super efficient at making ultrapure water, I still have to bring in more because I have to keep purifying. Now some of that waste stream (after the UPW is used) can get "recycled" along with other water types. The recycling might go to the big chillers that cool the building to a specified temperature and to the air handlers to create the necessary humidity. That is a reuse. That water is both evaporated and sent down the "drain" (site outfall). At a decent size facility, you are sending a few million gallons down the drain every day. It is not a big swimming pool or an enclosed recirculating system like your car's radiator. All big players are working on curbing their appetite for water but it is still a real consideration and the desert is a tough place to play with drought and dwindling water supply.
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The side topic - Complaints about water usage are real. Despite the efforts to "recycle" water, that is not maybe what the average person has in mind when they think of recycling. If the fab brings in a volume of water, they treat some portion of that water to purify it to very high standards (ultrapure water). I discard the impurities and send the UPW to my fabrication tools. Lets say I am super efficient at making ultrapure water, I still have to bring in more because I have to keep purifying. Now some of that waste stream (after the UPW is used) can get "recycled" along with other water types. The recycling might go to the big chillers that cool the building to a specified temperature and to the air handlers to create the necessary humidity. That is a reuse. That water is both evaporated and sent down the "drain" (site outfall). At a decent size facility, you are sending a few million gallons down the drain every day. It is not a big swimming pool or an enclosed recirculating system like your car's radiator. All big players are working on curbing their appetite for water but it is still a real consideration and the desert is a tough place to play with drought and dwindling water supply.