https://restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-arizona-expansion/
"Bruce thought he’d landed his dream job. The young American engineer had been
eager for a stable, high-paying job in the semiconductor industry. Then, in
late 2020, he received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter for Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Bruce read up on TSMC — the leading global
manufacturer of advanced chips — and got excited. The job sounded like he’d be
“pushing the boundaries of human technology,” he recalled to
Rest of World.
TSMC was undergoing a transformation at just about the same time Bruce heard
from the recruiter. The coronavirus pandemic was exposing deep faults in supply
chains, and a global chip shortage had slowed production of cars, smartphones,
and refrigerators around the world. Meanwhile, American policymakers were
rallying around what would eventually become the
CHIPS and Science Act, a
sweeping piece of legislation designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in
the U.S. TSMC, which makes most of its chips in Taiwan, was under pressure to
expand its global manufacturing capacities.
Bruce would be working as a semiconductor engineer. The recruiter explained
that he would first spend more than a year in Taiwan learning the ins and outs
of the complex chipmaking process. Then, he’d return to Arizona. There, in a
cactus-dotted suburb of Phoenix, TSMC was building a sprawling new factory to
make the kind of chips that power iPhones and U.S. fighter jets. He’d be
helping bring America’s newest chip factory online. Bruce was in.
But over the next two years, Bruce came to realize that the reality of working
at TSMC wasn’t exactly what he had envisioned. While working on nanometer-level
processes to make state-of-the-art chips, he struggled with language barriers,
long hours, and a strict hierarchy. Bruce soon began second-guessing what he
had signed up for. The plant, which was originally set to begin operating in
2024, fell woefully behind schedule; production at the facility is now set to
start in 2025. Bruce, who said he signed a confidentiality agreement with TSMC,
requested anonymity for this story.
He wasn’t the only one disappointed with TSMC’s progress in Arizona — other
U.S. workers who spoke to
Rest of World echoed Bruce’s concerns. In the past
two years, the company has relocated hundreds of Taiwanese workers and their
families to Arizona. Instead of a gleaming new facility, these workers found an
active construction site, and a company struggling to bridge Taiwanese and
American professional and cultural norms."
Cultural differences are very important and management at all levels - right to
the very top - doesn’t seem to understand it enough. There’s an old joke about
the difference between heaven and hell based on whether you integrate the best
from each culture or the worst.
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
