Posted on 12/24/2023 10:01:50 AM PST by FarCenter
On December 19, TSMC announced the retirement of chairman Mark Liu, but there has been increasing speculation that the chairman's five-year tenure might have been ended forcibly (via Wealth Magazine). Taiwanese media voices theorize that Liu's abrupt departure from the company is related to the construction delays for TSMC's Arizona fab, which Liu spent much of 2023 trying to keep on track.
Retirement isn't unusual for someone who's been working for roughly forty years, but there are two main reasons why Liu's retirement has stirred up speculation. The first is that it was very sudden; there was very little warning at all. Additionally, the press release surrounding his retirement came from TSMC and not Liu himself. By contrast, TSMC founder Morris Chang, who served as both chairman and CEO, announced his own retirement in 2018 and made his own statements.
According to industry rumors, the immediate cause for Liu's removal was problems surrounding Fab 21. The construction for Fab 21 in Arizona has been troubled since it began in April 2021, and chairman Liu blamed local Arizonan workers for the delays. His solution to get Fab 21 back on track was to send experienced TSMC workers from Taiwan, but this only angered the locals and unions. Eventually, the chairman backtracked on his comments about American workers and made concessions to the unions to end the conflict that had started half a year ago.
But beyond that, it is reported that Liu's position in TSMC was already fragile due to Chang's disapproval of U.S. collaboration. Although TSMC's founder has held no official position at the company since 2018, he is apparently personally influential enough for his opinion to matter. Chang has been skeptical of the CHIPS Act and attempts to build new fabs in America, and this reflected poorly on Liu's position. According to this theory, the chairman was already on thin ice with his support for TSMC-U.S. cooperation, and the problems at Fab 21 were the final straw.
Fully agree. The Chinese invasion of Taiwan will occur at Taipei Airport, and will be the CCP stepping out onto a red carpet as a band plays and a delegation welcomes them.
Just watch. Just like Hong Kong.
Which is why we should not be sharing any sensitive secrets with Taiwan.
But we must in order to obtain integrated circuits made using the most advanced processes, which are only available at TSMC in Taiwan where they do process development and prototyping.
Gee, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to offshore that in the first place, don’cha think?
Yes. Let us be real. So true. No lie. Ain’t it so?
Project management is perhaps the most critical thing in construction. Keeping subcontractors on task, on the “same page”, and on schedule is daunting and very demanding. If a project gets away from a manager, it is a long and steep climb to get it back in hand and on schedule. From my limited knowkedge, it is not unusual for even experienced managers to finally throw up their hands when they meet their Waterloo on a big project.
You’d think there’d be every incentive for all teams to coordinate and cooperate on any project. But it doesn’t take much to throw everything off if one subcontractor falls behind and it isn’t corrected immediately. Because it can cascade into others falling behind soon after. Then a project can grind to a halt and the finger-pointing begins. It can very much be a contest of wills. The project manager(s) and site superintendent(s) against the subcontractors and maybe even the building owners and the builder’s executives.
Perhaps this project has a project management team and a leader—and the schedule is so far out of control that it essentially needs to be reconstructed entirely under a new leader.
...JMHO!
“Real men have fabs” - TJ Rodgers / Gerry Sanders.
Not for decades. Most US semiconductor companies became fabless IC design and marketing houses with manufacturing outsourced to fabs and packaging companies.
My understanding is that Taiwan Semiconductor’s hold on the 4 nm market is temporary because of a bad decision made by intel back 2017-18.
I understand further that intel is going to have on 4 nm plants up and running sometime in 2028 somewhere in the rust belt. And then over the next 7-10 years have a massive build out from there.
That’s Vivek said we want to hold onto taiwan until 2028.
Have I understood that all correctly?
“what”
This was our attempt to get Taiwan to locate a top-end Chip-producing facility on US soil.
The US labor unions simply DO NOT have the level of skill required to build the facility (I wonder why, LOL), so Taiwan figured they better send over a bunch of people who could read, and they did.
Then the Unions bitched and effectively shut down the project.
So now the plant will be built in Mexico, where they know how to properly deal with unions.
Thank you for the informed info. The article was not written for the uninformed like me.
You’re welcome. I’ve been following this one - shows how powerful (and evil) our unions still are, even if they’re only a tiny fraction of the workforce.
“After starting to work at the TSMC fab construction project, Rich realized that project management and the chain of command at the construction site differed vastly from what he was used to from American chip factory projects. Here he had to report to at least four general contractors in charge of different works such as civil engineering or electrical and mechanical services whereas at the Intel project the workers of contractors had only to deal with a single general contractor.
“Who are we supposed to listen to? The designs also changed frequently,” he points out in describing the dilemma.
What made his life particularly hard was the fact that he never received complete construction drawings. Without understanding the scope and details of the respective construction it was not possible to follow the drawings.
A supervisor at a Taiwanese construction firm that has cooperated with TSMC for many years, tells CommonWealth Magazine that the different approaches to managing construction in Taiwan and the United States can be blamed for Rich’s conundrum.
He points out that TSMC has built many chip factories using advanced process technology which means they have the best expertise...
“Construction drawings are more like sketches. These cooperating companies have worked with TSMC in Taiwan for so many years, they don’t need to look at drawings to know how to make changes,” he elaborates.
However, transplanted to the United States the “Taiwanese model” does not work that well anymore. There construction is subject to permits that are based on relevant drawings. Construction work is carried out in line with the drawings. At the site, a general contractor supervises work progress and communicates with the workers....
Subsequently, TSMC followed suit and began to pay per diem allowances to stem the exodus. But Rich and his colleagues had made up their minds as they preferred to work for Intel “where they understand how things are done in the United States”.”
https://english.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=3566
Might help clarify things. Looks like part of the problem is the US requires approval based on drawings and then builds to them, while Taiwan was used to being able to change things mid-stream. And Intel decided to compete for labor and was willing to pay more WHILE working in a “US normal” style approach.
The last 30 years of my career in a paragraph...
No knowledge...
Intel Lost Decade: 5 Reasons Why Chip Giant Did Fall Behind
https://techovedas.com/intel-lost-decade-5-reasons-why-chip-giant-did-fall-behind/
The balance of “sensitive secrets”, Taiwan-US, may be weighted on their side. The US needs technology transfer FROM Taiwan.
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