50% of TSMC's Arizona employees are from Taiwan, despite recent controversies — company plans to hire more US workers over time

[tonyget]

After TSMC began building Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, the company said it needed to dispatch more than 1,000 skilled workers from Taiwan so it could complete the project on time and within budget. This made Arizona unions furious, as they argued it essentially took positions from locals, and the situation even spurred a separate lawsuit for racial discrimination. Today, about 50% of the staff at the fab still originate from Taiwan, but this will change over time as TSMC builds out additional phases of its factory, reports the New York Times.

About half of the 2,200 employees at TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona come from Taiwan. When announcing the project in 2020, TSMC assured the public it would create jobs for locals, so bringing over 1,000 employees from Taiwan contradicts the foundry's promise to hire talent from Arizona, which naturally angered unions.

TSMC reportedly also had working policies that contradict those in the U.S. Over time, it turned out that TSMC called for employees to work for extended hours, which is not common in the U.S. Over time, TSMC has also been accused of preferring Taiwanese employees for promotion in a lawsuit.

However, TSMC expects the percentage of American workers to grow as it builds additional phases of its Fab 21 over the next five years. This will likely happen as TSMC's existing employees learn more about the company's operations and get promoted while others are hired. The three-phase project is projected to create around 6,000 well-paid jobs.

What remains to be seen is who will equip these subsequent phases of Fab 21: existing site employees or new employees from Taiwan. TSMC's Fab 21 phase 2 will focus on producing chips using its N3 (3nm-class) process technologies. In contrast, Fab 21 phase 3 will add N2 (2nm-class) and A16 (1.6nm-class) technologies and their versions with backside power delivery and performance and transistor density enhancements to the site.

However, N3, N2, and A16 use slightly different tools than the N4 and N5 production nodes used at Fab 21 phase 1. As a result, TSMC may be inclined to bring more workers from Taiwan to install these tools and help with the fab ramp, as they will have unique experience that people in the U.S. will not have.

Half of TSMC's Arizona staff are Taiwanese, despite recent controversies

TSMC plans to add more American workers at the Fab 21 site in Arizona.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[IMakeICsAtHomeJK]

[Edit: Proper spoilering]
Mind-boggling extent to which manufacturing has been exported from the United States of America — origin of transistors and integrated circuits: the provenance of the semiconductor industry. Of course, the explanations are straightforward. Market efficiency is commonly quoted.

However, N3, N2, and A16 use slightly different tools than the N4 and N5 production nodes used at Fab 21 phase 1. As a result, TSMC may be inclined to bring more workers from Taiwan to install these tools and help with the fab ramp, as they will have unique experience that people in the U.S. will not have.

Fabrication plants' manufacturing of ICs has been compared to modern-day artisanal processes, albeit with supra-technological complexity. These 'artisans' at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation pass their data, information, knowledge, and finally, wisdom to the 'apprentices': the next generation of plant operators, if you will. For the USA (or any other state) to arrive at a similar destination of development as TSMC, it would arguably require a resource more valuable than money: time. In this respect, the People's Republic of China could be perceived as 'ahead of the US', due to their increasing success at domestic chip production.

"In 2023, Huawei released its Mate60 Pro smartphone, which had a 7nm chip application processor HiSilicon Kirin 9000S manufactured by SMIC using SMIC's N+2 process node." (Allen, 2023)

(极客湾Geekerwan, 2024)

Spoiler: "File:Video über den Kirin 9000 (极客湾Geekerwan) 08.png (3,840 × 2,160 pixels, file size: 12.08 MB, MIME type: image/png)"

Where else besides the ROC does the labor capital TSMC require exist? Taiwan is seemingly the sole source of such workers, although the PRC ostensibly has a 'second-rate' supply. Does Japan, the European Union, United States of America, or Korea even come close to cultivating the culture of semiconductor fabrication (id est, not design-only, but the manufacturing itself) apparent within Greater China (PRC & ROC)?

 

[BruceA]

Half of TSMC's Arizona staff are Taiwanese, despite recent controversies

TSMC plans to add more American workers at the Fab 21 site in Arizona.

www.tomshardware.com

After TSMC began building Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, the company said it needed to dispatch more than 1,000 skilled workers from Taiwan so it could complete the project on time and within budget. This made Arizona unions furious, as they argued it essentially took positions from locals, and the situation even spurred a separate lawsuit for racial discrimination. Today, about 50% of the staff at the fab still originate from Taiwan, but this will change over time as TSMC builds out additional phases of its factory, reports the New York Times.

About half of the 2,200 employees at TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona come from Taiwan. When announcing the project in 2020, TSMC assured the public it would create jobs for locals, so bringing over 1,000 employees from Taiwan contradicts the foundry's promise to hire talent from Arizona, which naturally angered unions.

TSMC reportedly also had working policies that contradict those in the U.S. Over time, it turned out that TSMC called for employees to work for extended hours, which is not common in the U.S. Over time, TSMC has also been accused of preferring Taiwanese employees for promotion in a lawsuit.

However, TSMC expects the percentage of American workers to grow as it builds additional phases of its Fab 21 over the next five years. This will likely happen as TSMC's existing employees learn more about the company's operations and get promoted while others are hired. The three-phase project is projected to create around 6,000 well-paid jobs.

What remains to be seen is who will equip these subsequent phases of Fab 21: existing site employees or new employees from Taiwan. TSMC's Fab 21 phase 2 will focus on producing chips using its N3 (3nm-class) process technologies. In contrast, Fab 21 phase 3 will add N2 (2nm-class) and A16 (1.6nm-class) technologies and their versions with backside power delivery and performance and transistor density enhancements to the site.

However, N3, N2, and A16 use slightly different tools than the N4 and N5 production nodes used at Fab 21 phase 1. As a result, TSMC may be inclined to bring more workers from Taiwan to install these tools and help with the fab ramp, as they will have unique experience that people in the U.S. will not have.

Phase 1 requires what a thousand Taiwanese and was still more than a year late by any accounts.

Phase 2 a more advanced node with more complexity I can assume will require even more skilled and experienced Taiwanese so say another 1000 at a minimum.

Where o where will they come from? TSMC is ramping both in Taiwan big time, Japan now and soon Germany with will need expats too, maybe less since it is a less advanced node.

Attrition of the US based especially those who are real Americans have been very high. Very few of the originally engineers and even fewer of the technicians that went to Taiwan or still left that the new strategy that they have focused on foreign students especially those that can speak mandarin. More than 90% of management is Taiwan longtime with little ability.

I can wait till an audit is done of their hiring and demographics

 

[osnium]

Phase 1 requires what a thousand Taiwanese and was still more than a year late by any accounts.

Phase 2 a more advanced node with more complexity I can assume will require even more skilled and experienced Taiwanese so say another 1000 at a minimum.

Where o where will they come from? TSMC is ramping both in Taiwan big time, Japan now and soon Germany with will need expats too, maybe less since it is a less advanced node.

Attrition of the US based especially those who are real Americans have been very high. Very few of the originally engineers and even fewer of the technicians that went to Taiwan or still left that the new strategy that they have focused on foreign students especially those that can speak mandarin. More than 90% of management is Taiwan longtime with little ability.

I can wait till an audit is done of their hiring and demographics

Is the local talent in Japan and Germany more amenable to semiconductor manufacturing? Dresden is a huge semiconductor hub and Japan has a strong legacy in semiconductor manufacturing as well so perhaps fewer Taiwanese folks are required.

 

[siliconbruh999]

Is the local talent in Japan and Germany more amenable to semiconductor manufacturing? Dresden is a huge semiconductor hub and Japan has a strong legacy in semiconductor manufacturing as well so perhaps fewer Taiwanese folks are required.

I don't think talent is a issues it's about culture and unions imo Intel/TI/GF operate fab in US we won't hear something like this from them often

 

[Daniel Nenni]

I don't think talent is a issues it's about culture and unions imo Intel/TI/GF operate fab in US we won't hear something like this from them often

Hopefully new fabs will be more automated. As Rapidus says AI and robotics will minimize headcount and increase efficiency. The TSMC fab in Japan was built in record time. They called it the Night Castle since work was 24/7. That was not the case for AZ. Let's see how Dresden goes but I would guess it will be somewhere in between Japan and AZ.

 

[Artificer60]

I still struggle to see how the TSMC fab in Germany is going to work with their culture.

Under the Working Hours Act (“Arbeitszeitgesetz”) there’s a minimum on the number of hours workers can engage in. It caps the average workday at eight hours, with no work allowed on Sunday. In some cases, Germans may legally workup to 10 hours in a day. But the average workday can’t exceed eight hours over a six-month period.
German employees typically work 34.2 hours per week. Additionally, during the standard workweek—defined as Monday through Saturday—a German employee’s work hours may not legally exceed 48 hours.

I've heard there is a push to further reduce the hours in a work week.

These legal restrictions seem to fly in the face of the "work like a dog, TSMC is your life" culture that the media seems to portray TSMC as expecting of their workforce.

 

[hist78]

I still struggle to see how the TSMC fab in Germany is going to work with their culture.

Under the Working Hours Act (“Arbeitszeitgesetz”) there’s a minimum on the number of hours workers can engage in. It caps the average workday at eight hours, with no work allowed on Sunday. In some cases, Germans may legally workup to 10 hours in a day. But the average workday can’t exceed eight hours over a six-month period.
German employees typically work 34.2 hours per week. Additionally, during the standard workweek—defined as Monday through Saturday—a German employee’s work hours may not legally exceed 48 hours.

I've heard there is a push to further reduce the hours in a work week.

These legal restrictions seem to fly in the face of the "work like a dog, TSMC is your life" culture that the media seems to portray TSMC as expecting of their workforce.

I think there are means and ways to have a workable labor arrangement. Otherwise Globalfoundries' German fabs would have shutdown long time ago.

 

[Barnsley]

I don't think talent is a issues it's about culture and unions imo Intel/TI/GF operate fab in US we won't hear something like this from them often

Why this site love bashing the "working man" and having some form of representation.

 

[Barnsley]

I think there are means and ways to have a workable labor arrangement. Otherwise Globalfoundries' German fabs would have shutdown long time ago.

Yeh , probably not crapping on your workers.
Dunno why folk on here seem hell bent on hammering the workers in the semicon industry.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

TSMC is certainly trying:

2025 TSMC US Campus Career Talk & Info Session

careers.tsmc.com