Morris Chang said it decades ago, but the US will need to import a lot of talented engineers and workers if we plan on actually having some amount of self sufficiency in chip design on the leading edge of the industry. IMO, there was zero chance they were ever going to have that fab running by 2024, just given the amount of time other fabs have taken from tool-in to production runs. But this sort of announcement means things are significantly worse than previously imagined.
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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In this case, it's not a lack of engineers. Taiwan leadership burned through their staff too quickly.
I've run into that a lot (mostly with India, but I'd assume it's Eastern society as a whole). Leadership isn't used to being questioned. There's a very clear hierarchy that must be respected at all costs. I think it comes from the caste systems possibly. When US engineers roll in and propose changes, they're dealt with swiftly and brutally.
(If you want to get philosophical about the culture difference, it's why the US comes up with big ideas, and why Asia is so much better at execution).
There's just an expectation that workers march in lockstep to the death, and US workers simply, culturally, are not like that. Especially not when they have valuable skills they can get paid for somewhere else.
Go look at Glassdoor for TSMC, it's not a pretty picture.
The US has enough engineers...no one wants to pay for them or put up with their whining.
Can't say I'd be stoked to live in Arizona considering the recent heat wave either.
It's more than that. TSMC expects American workers to operate under Asian expectations which is long hours for lower pay. They can't keep American workers b/c they just say no and work for the competition.
long hours for lower pay. They can’t keep American workers b/c they just say no and work for the competition
Whenever a company says "lack of skilled workers" or "labor shortage", just assume that it's corporate newspeak for "we are entirely unwilling to pay what the market demands for those skills".
Chang has been a throat slitter from the beginning. But the problem is lack of available engineers. TSMC even commented on that risk before breaking ground. They warned apple about it in 2018, even. This has been a know risk, and now there's a fab that will be waiting for staff rather than the other way around like it normally is in Taiwan.
If the US was smart, they'd offer targeted VISA programs for industries that have historically exported engineers rather than importing them. But that's a whole other incentive system with its own political issues.
I can assure you, engineers are out there who want to work in the US - both local and foreign. They just don't want to work in Arizona.
The climate in California is already bad enough, but at least Cali has some upsides.
You do know that AZ is one of the largest engineering states in the country right? Motorola, Stryker, Infosys,Cisco,Honeywell, Raytheon, general dynamics, on semiconductor. And more that I don't want to type all have r&d and fab in or near PHX. This is all about TSMC coming in thinking they are hot shot and that their name is worth more that the paycheck.
Giving green cards for Arizona isn't the issue, people will work where they're paid. The point I'm making is that TSMC is going to have to offer green cards for this work in the first place.
No, they just need to pay a competitive wage there's enough engineers to go around.