TSMC's Struggles in Arizona Cultural Challenges and Talent Battles
TapTechNews August 11th news, the progress of the construction plan of the world's leading semiconductor foundry company TSMC in Arizona, the US is not smooth. The 5-nanometer wafer fab that was originally scheduled to go into production in 2024 has been postponed many times and is currently expected to be postponed to 2025. According to The New York Times report, the root of the problem lies in the completely different workplace culture between Taiwan, China and the US.
TSMC is known for its harsh working environment, including working 12 hours a day, working overtime on weekends, and even recalling employees urgently in the middle of the night. The management in Taiwan, China is known for its tough style, and employees may face severe penalties or even dismissal with a slight mistake. However, this management model does not adapt to the US. The report shows that many employees at the Arizona plant have left due to being unable to tolerate the high-pressure environment, resulting in a serious recruitment problem for TSMC. Currently, nearly half of the 2200 employees in the plant are from Taiwan, China, and the dependence of the enterprise on employees from Taiwan, China is obvious.
The US government attaches great importance to the localization of chip manufacturing to reduce its dependence on imports. TSMC's Arizona project is regarded as a key measure to improve the level of US chip manufacturing. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo once said that 92% of the US's most advanced chips rely on imports from Taiwan, China. TSMC has promised to invest 65 billion US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 466.347 billion yuan) in this project and has received a subsidy of 6.6 billion US dollars (currently about 47.352 billion yuan) provided by the US Chips and Science Act.
TSMC plans to build three factories in Arizona and eventually create 6000 jobs. The company urgently needs to reduce the proportion of employees from Taiwan, China and realize local operation. Mr. Liu, the head of employee communication and relationship in Arizona of TSMC, said: We hope this factory area can succeed and develop sustainably. Sustainability means that we cannot always rely on sending people from Taiwan, China.
In order to cultivate local talents, local colleges and universities have increased courses related to electrical engineering and other majors, and have cooperated with TSMC to provide internships, research projects and recruitment opportunities. TSMC has also built a cleanroom in high schools to allow students to get in touch with the semiconductor manufacturing environment in advance.
To bridge the cultural gap, on the one hand, TSMC sent US employees to Taiwan, China to study, and on the other hand, conducted communication training for the management. However, TSMC is not the only chip manufacturer in Arizona. Intel is also expanding its factory locally, and the competition has intensified the talent battle.
If TSMC wants to gain a firm foothold in the US, it must adapt to the local workplace culture and compete for talents with other competitors.