Posted on 07/02/2023 3:54:28 AM PDT by FarCenter
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, and its suppliers are planning to dispatch more than 500 workers with expertise in setting up cutting-edge chip facilities to the U.S. from Taiwan.
In this exclusive report, Nikkei Asia's Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li describe how construction of the company's semiconductor factory in Phoenix, Arizona, is falling behind schedule, owing to a combination of factors including labor shortages and a lack of expertise.
"There are not enough U.S. workers who have good first-hand experience specifically on building semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and many are not familiar with the requirements for chipmaking plants," one executive with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei.
Construction on the plant began in 2021, and the Taiwanese chipmaker recently said mass production will begin in late 2024. In Taiwan, TSMC is usually able to get a new chip plant up and running in two or two-and-a-half years, but in Arizona, it will take over three years.
Analysts say the delays may also be due to TSMC slowing its expansion push in the face of sluggish global chip demand. As a listed, for-profit enterprise, the chipmaker's needs may not necessarily align with geopolitics.
Friendshoring, it seems, is easier said than done.
(Excerpt) Read more at asia.nikkei.com ...
TSMC to send hundreds more workers to speed U.S. plant construction
...
>>The wages for construction workers on the U.S. plant are “several times” higher than in Taiwan, supply chain executives said, even though their efficiency is less assured. TSMC and its suppliers have already sent many additional supervisors to monitor and facilitate the building progress of cleanrooms and power and water systems.
>>”It is challenging and costly for Taiwanese cleanroom builders to communicate with foreign construction workers in an unfamiliar environment. Sending experienced construction contractors and their workers who worked with the chip suppliers before from Taiwan could save lots of time and costs,” one supplier said.
Getting this factory and the big Intel chip manufacturing factory in Ohio up and running will be another significant step forward in weening ourselves off of China and countries that can be directly affected by China for another key component in the supply chain.
Good catch! Thx for posting.
Think of the great money that could be made by people working in the construction of these kinds of facilities.
But no-o-o-o-o they don't wanna work these days. I remember when I was young, guys would climb over razor wire to get into that racket. Work ethic.
The Economics of TSMC’s Giga-Fabs
https://www.asianometry.com/p/the-economics-of-tsmcs-giga-fabs
At 50,000 wafer starts per month, it is a single, medium size fab. Possibly enough to satisfy some national security, but a drop in the bucket in terms of global wafer starts.
bkmk
There are so many problems with building up an industry like this I hardly know where to start. First, they chose Arizona for an industry that has a huge freshwater requirement. It’s still not clear where they’ll get the water and even if they got really good at recycling there are inherent loses due to the weather. This was obviously a political decision rather than one made off the required physics and chemistry. That alone probably spells doom. Secondly, the job requirement, training, and dedication don’t match with the local labor force. And, once the labor force is trained there is no place for them to advance to. Once you have your complicated and intensely time and effort consuming job mastered, there’s no place to go other than that job. This makes it difficult to fill those positions even in Taiwan where people are used to working like slaves for low salaries.
Here’s the problem with anything set up by the government. When government money is involved, the decisions are all political and ignore reality. The goal is not to succeed at whatever the job is. The goal is to use the money to secure political advantage. This is one reason* all of the Obama “investments” in battery technology failed. (Or, succeeded depending on whether you wanted batteries or to line your pockets.)
* Another reason is, there was no market for millions of batteries. That market has to evolve along with the battery production. To suddenly have the ability to build millions of batteries but have no use for them is ridiculous. It follows the Left’s view that the reason people don’t buy small cars is that nobody builds small cars. Therefore, we’ll force manufacturers to build small cars and people will buy them. There are dozens of small cars options, but people don’t buy them because Americans want large cars. We have big butts.
Yep, re-learning pains. Well worth it. Globalist can KMA.
Instead of making things here maybe we should just ask to be annexed by the Chinese empire.
Seems like the globalists and the Desantis pushers are all one and the same.
I been working on the chip factory
All the live long day
“... Americans ... have big butts.”
There is some truth in that statement. Several generations of abundance of food, medical advancement, etc have resulted in a general increase of the size of the average USA citizen. This is not limited to any race or ethnic group. The ergonomics that are used to design products for folks in the USA are different in that more space is needed as a rule.
The site is in Phoenix Arizona.
It’s hot there
If you were knowledgeable and current, you would know there is no Chinese empire.
China is in turmoil and transition as factories of foreigners and even Chinese citizens leave for profitable habitat
The effort in question is a manifestation of that reaity
When I was at Raytheon, we had an RF isolation chamber built in Waltham, Massachusetts by an outside contractor from Connecticut. The chamber is like a pre-fabricated home, shipped by truck and assembled on-site. The purchase order called for a technician from the supplier to supervise Raytheon (IBEW) union carpenters. (You can see where this is going.) Assembly was supposed to take one or two days, tops. After two days the technician called back to Connecticut to send up a carpenter. He finished the next day.
We had a stack of HP radio frequency test equipment to install and our local HP sales representative was there to help install it. There were about half a dozen Raytheon engineers “watching” the HP rep, and a single union representative in the corner sitting with his arms folded making sure that none of the Engineers picked up a screw driver, or else he would have filed a grievance. The five O’Clock whistle blew, and the union representative left. We closed the industrial refrigerator thick door behind him, all picked up screw drivers and equipment and began assembling the racks. We, and our HP rep stayed until about seven PM playing with our new toy. Great fun!
They need Helium gas in the production process. Phoenix is close to Helium producers. (Helium gas well are locate in AZ, NM, Western KS)
Hmmm....... thanks for that factoid
A brother told me a year ago Taiwan was going to build a chip plant in Arizona.
I took it as a sign that big manufacturers in Taiwan are making a strategic effort to stay in business with overseas factories...just in case the mainland makes good on its stated intentions.
We own an mid-size SUV and a subcompact.
In the last 2 years we’ve been in two accidents, one serious, caused by a druvers who ignored traffic control at intersections.
Both times were in our SUV.
If we ever go down to one car, it will be the SUV, and it won’t have anything to do with what Detroit calls fata$$ability.
It will have everything to do with cops no longer enforcing traffic laws in our neck of the woods.
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