A feud is heating up between Arizona workers and the world's leading chipmaker after the company claimed the US doesn't have the skills to build its new factory
A feud is heating up between Arizona workers and the world's leading chipmaker after the company claimed the US doesn't have the skills to build its new factory
TSMC wants to bring in foreign reinforcements to get its Arizona factory running because it claims there aren't enough qualified local workers.
TSMC says the opening of its Arizona chip factory has been delayed due to a shortage of skilled workers. The company says it needs to bring Taiwanese workers to Arizona to get construction back on track. An Arizona union says US jobs are being threatened — and is urging lawmakers to deny the workers' visas.
You're viewing a single thread.
To get the construction of its Arizona chip factory back on track, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) says it needs more workers with the expertise and skillsets that Americans don't have. Since June, the company has been in discussions with the US government about receiving accelerated non-immigrant E-2 visas for as many as 500 Taiwanese workers.
…
The Arizona Pipe Trades 469 Union, a labor union that says it represents over 4,000 pipefitters, plumbers, welders, and HVAC technicians, has started a petition to urge US lawmakers to deny these visas. The petition claims that TSMC has deliberately misrepresented the skillset of Arizona's workforce. By approving TSMC's visa requests, a union website says lawmakers would be laying the groundwork for "cheap labor" to replace American workers.
How are they justifying these visas in any way? If it's those trades listed, claiming any kind of shortage is bullshit. They just don't want to pay union prices.
It's not those trades.
"We are now entering a critical phase of handling and installing the most advanced and dedicated equipment," said TSMC chairman Mark Liu. "However, we are encountering certain challenges as there is an insufficient amount of skilled workers with those specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."
These are highly specialized engineers and scientists.
hmmm. while i get the point the union is trying to make, there is a staunch difference between welding and pipe fitting versus creating semi-conductors.
i think it’s silly to assume the workers wouldn’t learn the necessary skills to be able to work there, but it’s also silly to say “well we can fit pipes and weld shit so we can make semiconductors.”
We’re not talking about semiconductor workers though. This is from the earlier article that this article references:
TSMC and its suppliers are in talks with the U.S. government to assist with the application process for non-immigrant visas in a bid to dispatch more than 500 experienced workers as early as July to expedite the construction of cleanroom facilities and the installation of pipelines and other equipment, three chip supply chain executives said.
Chip making factories need water, electricity, ventilation. I don't think that surprises anyone.
And if there was one thing American's are Semi-good at, it is trade skills.
If this was a case of needing more experienced professionals for chips, I would agree with Tiawan. However, could anyone make an argument on why we need a concrete expert from Taiwan? Or an electrician from Tiawan? Or a plumber from Tiawan?
Specialized electricians for some of the more sophisticated systems is the only one that makes any sense. Even then, there's plenty of US workers available unless it's something highly specific to chip fabs.
That's exactly what it is.
"We are now entering a critical phase of handling and installing the most advanced and dedicated equipment," said TSMC chairman Mark Liu. "However, we are encountering certain challenges as there is an insufficient amount of skilled workers with those specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."
I still have some suspicions on that, AMD and Intel aren't complaining about shortages. I'd be curious to see what expertise/certifications they're looking for because I'm sure they could find a company in Cali or Texas if they're willing to pay up.
I bet the instruction manuals for much of the equipment is completely in Mandarin, not to mention the computer coding involved.
A lot of the major equipment will come from ASML (Dutch) and a lot of the minor stuff will probably be from a major conglomerate that has no issue providing multiple language manuals.
Furthermore, for larger/built in equipment installs the company providing will send out a technician for final programming at the very least.
"We are now entering a critical phase of handling and installing the most advanced and dedicated equipment," said TSMC chairman Mark Liu. "However, we are encountering certain challenges as there is an insufficient amount of skilled workers with those specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."
To add on, this union represents a large number of skilled pipefitters and other tradespeople who have done the exact same work on several similar Intel facilities within Arizona. It's pretty clear that TSMC wants to take US taxpayer funding (for a project designed to stimulate the skilled trades in AZ, as well as create jobs for Americans) and instead of paying market rates for American workers, pay a lot less to bring workers over from Taiwan.
Read article. That work is already done.
they're talking about building the facility. which includes a shit load of plumbing. between all the high-purity water line, the chemical line. the gas line. the everything else to feed the machines... yeah. they're gonna need pipefitters