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TSMC Arizona struggles to overcome vast differences between Taiwanese and US work culture (www.tomshardware.com)

submitted 3 months ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s largest advanced computer chip manufacturers, continues finding its efforts to get its Arizona facility up and running to be more difficult than it anticipated. The chip maker’s 5nm wafer fab was supposed to go online in 2024 but has faced numerous setbacks and now isn’t expected to begin production until 2025. The trouble the semiconductor has been facing boils down to a key difference between Taiwan and the U.S.: workplace culture. A New York Times report highlights the continuing struggle.

One big problem is that TSMC has been trying to do things the Taiwanese way, even in the U.S. In Taiwan, TSMC is known for extremely rigorous working conditions, including 12-hour work days that extend into the weekends and calling employees into work in the middle of the night for emergencies. TSMC managers in Taiwan are also known to use harsh treatment and threaten workers with being fired for relatively minor failures.

TSMC quickly learned that such practices won’t work in the U.S. Recent reports indicated that the company’s labor force in Arizona is leaving the new plant over these perceived abuses, and TSMC is struggling to fill those vacancies. TSMC is already heavily dependent on employees brought over from Taiwan, with almost half of its current 2,200 employees in Phoenix coming over as Taiwanese transplants.

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[–] aaaaace@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And AZ struggles to update environmental regs... https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09082024/arizona-copper-mining-water-impact/

“We’re all on wells out here and no one can give us an answer as to what aquifer the water is going to be coming from,” Melissa said of the potential mine in the Galiuro Mountains.

Worrying over water is nothing new in Arizona. Nearly 80 percent of the state lacks any groundwater protections, which has allowed large agricultural operations to move in and pump as much as they want without even keeping track of how much they suck from aquifers or paying a penny for it, leading residential wells in some areas to run dry. Water experts, local leaders and rural residents have pushed for years to change that, with the governor now also calling for action, but legislation to resolve the issue has proven divisive in the state legislature.

Mining operations can also pump as much as they want, even when aquifers are tapped out.

[–] aaaaace@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 months ago

I was looking at off grid properties back in the oughts and found nice place on 40 acres.

The community had run state water people off with firearms when they tried to inspect the community well.

They'd also abolished utility easements so no outside power or water lines could be run.

Might still be for sale.

[–] PanArab@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago

The CHIPS Act is going well.

[–] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I thought bringing Taiwanese working conditions to the US would help.

(I can't find the full clip so you'll have to click right on the arrow a couple times.)

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works -3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (15 children)

Important to note that this is Taiwanese culture, not Chinese; Taiwan is much more exacting in the finished product and generally much more attentive to human rights in terms of work culture, so it is not a direct correlation to what happened in the American Factory doc.

Which brings us to what I believe is the more salient point:

TSMC is very Christian and at least their top management likens their research, discoveries and manufacturing progress to faith-based divine revelation.

The symptoms of worker's rights abuse may not be simple disregard for labor rights so much as continued religious fervor.

https://www.wired.com/story/i-saw-the-face-of-god-in-a-tsmc-factory/

Their R&D is scientific, but their motivation, timelines and sheer effort is strongly faith-based, in the mindset that God has allowed them to get this far and will allow them to continue to progress no matter what technological hurdles appear.

Either way, labor rights have to be respected, but I wanted to point out that Taiwan and China are entirely separate countries with different work cultures and there's another pretty important reason why outside workers might be put off by the zealotry with which tsmc focuses on developing cutting edge chip manufacturing.

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