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Rumors swirl that TSMC chairman Mark Liu was forced to retire over Arizona fab debacle
Tom's Hardware ^

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.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: arizona; tsmc
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1 posted on 12/24/2023 10:01:50 AM PST by FarCenter
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To: FarCenter

what


2 posted on 12/24/2023 10:05:23 AM PST by devane617 (Discipline Is Reliable, Motivation Is Fleeting..)
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To: FarCenter

Very interest. We’ll see what the industry fall-out is on Tuesday.


3 posted on 12/24/2023 10:07:09 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: FarCenter

TSMC = Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. I presume a “fab” is a fabrication plant.

I would also assume that the corrupt Arizona Democrat political machine ensured that only union workers would build and staff the fab, insuring endless corruption as well as slow production and progress.


4 posted on 12/24/2023 10:08:48 AM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper)
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To: \/\/ayne
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

You can bet there are a lot of ChiCom moles embedded in that company.

5 posted on 12/24/2023 10:09:37 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

a lot of ChiCom moles embedded

No way, really? Probably walked across the southern border self identifying as immigrants from anywhere else.
/S


6 posted on 12/24/2023 10:12:26 AM PST by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable. Even more so)
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To: dfwgator

“You can bet there are a lot of ChiCom moles embedded in that company.”

And in our government.


7 posted on 12/24/2023 10:12:38 AM PST by dljordan
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To: dljordan

It’s why I say Taiwan is already lost. The ChiComs have moles embedded everywhere in their government and industry. They are just waiting for “The Signal”.


8 posted on 12/24/2023 10:13:29 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: FarCenter

What is a fab?


9 posted on 12/24/2023 10:16:29 AM PST by erkelly
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To: devane617

A decidedly ungifted writer. The way I would phrase it when teaching one of my sons to write essays: pretend that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the topic. The writer failed that basic standard

I’m grateful other posters helped decipher this Rosetta Stone for us


10 posted on 12/24/2023 10:18:05 AM PST by j.havenfarm (23 years on Free Republic, 12/22/23! More than 8,000 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: FarCenter

Prediction: US Semiconductor companies (and Japanese) build more foundries in the USA.

Why? Biden is signaling weakness: China may indeed swallow Taiwan


11 posted on 12/24/2023 10:22:50 AM PST by BereanBrain
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To: \/\/ayne
I presume a “fab” is a fabrication plant.

It is. I suppose because these days any word over one syllable is too challenging.


12 posted on 12/24/2023 10:26:00 AM PST by Cinnamontea
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To: FarCenter

All the chip manufacturers decided to build factories at the same time and the Chips act poured fuel into the fire. TSMC, Intel, Samsung, and TI all started fab build outs concurrently. There are only so many people that know how to build a fab, there are only so many suppliers of chip tools, there are only so many vendors that can supply the chemicals needed. Lead times became years and prices doubled or tripled.

Things were complicated for TSMC because this is their first US fab. In Taiwan they are considered a premium job and receive government support. In the US the workers they compete for see no reason to kill themselves for the company or show reverence to management. This cultural clash has been written about extensively.

It may have been a bad decision to change their business model to chase US government cash but Morris Chang is famously anti U.S. ever since Intel turned him down when he wanted them to partner in the foundry business.


13 posted on 12/24/2023 10:26:08 AM PST by RightOnTheBorder
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To: RightOnTheBorder

Morris Chang worked for Texas Instruments until 1983.

“In the early 1980s, while still at Texas Instruments, Chang witnessed TI’s factory in Japan achieving twice the chip production yield as TI’s factory in Texas.[3] Observing that the staff and technicians in Japan are better qualified and had lower turnover, and failing to recruit the same caliber of staff in the United States, he concluded that future of advanced manufacturing appeared to be in Asia.[3]”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Chang


14 posted on 12/24/2023 10:32:14 AM PST by FarCenter
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To: dfwgator

Sounds fishy to me. Lots of Questions that need to be answered here.


15 posted on 12/24/2023 10:32:24 AM PST by Forward the Light Brigade ( Ride to the sound of the Guns!)
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To: erkelly

A “fab” is a semiconductor fabrication factory. Silicon wafers are successively coated, illuminated by photographic processes, etched, etc, until the integrated circuit is built up on the surface of the wafer.

The wafers, usually 12” in diameter, are then sent on to another facility where they are tested, cut into individual chips, and the chips are packaged and tested.


16 posted on 12/24/2023 10:37:04 AM PST by FarCenter
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To: erkelly

Fabrication facility, commonly semiconductor/integrated circuits (electronics) I worked at several early on at Intel, derived from Intelligent Electronics. I share what I detect is your distain for TLA’s; three letter acronyms. English used to be common and common practice used to require complete spelling of something before invoking the aforementioned TLA.
Another ‘fab’ was the Beatles...Fab Four. Probably not appropriate.


17 posted on 12/24/2023 10:41:52 AM PST by sasquatch
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To: FarCenter

I started with 25 mm wafers. Finished with 200. Been a while.


18 posted on 12/24/2023 10:46:52 AM PST by sasquatch
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To: RightOnTheBorder

Robert Baker (B^2) worked in my group several coon’s ages ago. We were at Fab 1 then. Ended up as a super fund site.


19 posted on 12/24/2023 10:55:01 AM PST by sasquatch
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To: \/\/ayne

Thank you! Too many things were unknown from the headline.


20 posted on 12/24/2023 11:16:24 AM PST by Joann37
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