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Interesting article. There's clearly a massive cultural difference between Taiwan/TSMC and the US.
You do wonder if it's even possible now to run a cost effective wafer fab without the borderline authoritarian/rigidly conformist/heavily top down East Asian approach. We probably all prefer the Silicon Valley culture where people are trusted to get the results in their own way and challenging authority and accepted ways is the norm. Perhaps Morris Chang was right ?
It is very difficult to believe that TSMC managers are as incompetent as described in the article. If it is true, Intel's managers down the road must be laughing their heads off as they extend offers to the US engineers who walked away. And TSMC is going to lose face on a scale they have probably not experienced before.
I think AZ was a big learning experience for TSMC and the fast Japan fab build was a response to that experience. Asian cultures are much more compatible than the current US working culture for sure and it makes one wonder if Intel can really compete with Asian based fabs?
TSMC is very careful with IP so I doubt any one US based engineer could do much damage but clearly employment NDAs do not mean much in this regard.
Since process development is separate from fab operations, I doubt that the US engineers hired by TSMC learned anything significant enough to affect corporate competitiveness. This is especially true considering how TSMC so poorly handled the language barriers, if we believe what's in the article.
Unless you had eyes inside how do you know an exaggeration ?
Like all things take out of context but the events are accurate. I am surprised no talk about safety or the mistake and accidents that happened and are happening
Seems like a somewhat biased article. I would look at other companies progress in Arizona and in Ohio on ramping new fabs and see how the timelines compare when all is said and done before deciding what TSMC did wrong. As for culture, each company and plant have their own culture. you are free to choose who you work for. TSMC is the most successful fab company in the world for a reason. I can think of two very successful US company sites that have similar stories by disgruntled employees and people who love the success from these sites.
Mark that is a naive point of view. I’d have thought a veteran like you would know better than have that point of view. That is like saying don’t believe those crying wolf as they cry in democracy, communist and dictators too, LOL
Seems like a somewhat biased article. I would look at other companies progress in Arizona and in Ohio on ramping new fabs and see how the timelines compare when all is said and done before deciding what TSMC did wrong. As for culture, each company and plant have their own culture. you are free to choose who you work for. TSMC is the most successful fab company in the world for a reason. I can think of two very successful US company sites that have similar stories by disgruntled employees and people who love the success from these sites.
Mark that is a naive point of view. I’d have thought a veteran like you would know better than have that point of view. That is like saying don’t believe those crying wolf as they cry in democracy, communist and dictators too, LOL
I have been in TSMC factories, worked for Taiwanese and US companies, and I know many people who work at TSMC AZ and other US Fabs today and I know the culture at those sites. Lets see how it works out. IMHO there are challenges that will be worked out.... Just an opinion.
Mark that is a naive point of view. I’d have thought a veteran like you would know better than have that point of view. That is like saying don’t believe those crying wolf as they cry in democracy, communist and dictators too, LOL
Not at all. He's simply arguing for not single-sourcing information. The opposite of naive. We simply can't know what biases this particular author may have. But all authors have some, however muted.
And he's quite correct that we'll soon enough have a direct comparison between Intel AZ and TSMC AZ.
Tons and tons of people in Asia constantly trying to smear and wishing TSMC Arizona will be a total failure, divide between Taiwanese and American. Particularly from mainland China. For obvious reasons...
Tons and tons of people in Asia constantly trying to smear and wishing TSMC Arizona will be a total failure, divide between Taiwanese and American. Particularly from mainland China. For obvious reasons...
I have been in TSMC factories, worked for Taiwanese and US companies, and I know many people who work at TSMC AZ and other US Fabs today and I know the culture at those sites. Lets see how it works out. IMHO there are challenges that will be worked out.... Just an opinion.
I agree, manufacturing requires a certain culture, where people need to put aside their individual identities and embrace work togethering as part of a machine. It's very difficult to get Americans to buy into this.
It's also very difficult work, requires an uncommon level of dedication and discipline, many tasks are highly monotonous, and the the salaries cannot be too high or the factories won't be globally competitive. US workers often have better options so you are not able to find the best people to work in factories.
I agree, manufacturing requires a certain culture, where people need to put aside their individual identities and embrace work together as part of a machine. It's very difficult to get Americans to buy into this.
It's also very difficult work, requires an uncommon level of dedication and discipline, many tasks are highly monotonous, and the the salaries cannot be too high or the factories won't be globally competitive.
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