The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has assured workers at its U.S. Arizona fab that employees being brought from Taiwan on visas will not affect their wages or positions. TSMC's statement, released to the Taiwanese media, came after reports surfaced that the firm plans to bring in more employees from Taiwan to help set up the site slated to begin production in just a few months. TSMC's Arizona plant is a highly hyped-up facility that is the first set up in the U.S. in recent years. While the firm's leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing technologies will continue to be limited to Taiwan, the Arizona fab will nevertheless bring TSMC's manufacturing technology quite close to the latest tech in America.
TSMC's Arizona Plant Currently Employs Roughly 12,000 People Shares Firm
Ever since TSMC announced that it would set up a new manufacturing facility in the U.S., experts, including the firm's founder Dr. Morris Chang, continued to warn about the clash in working cultures between the U.S. and Taiwan. According to them, working conditions in Taiwan are pretty stringent, and American workers would find it difficult to adapt to TSMC's culture, which is built on these practices.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, has risen to the top of the industry in a flash - surprising industry analysts, particularly as the firm beat the better-resourced Samsung Foundry of South Korea. To facilitate its workers in the U.S., the company has already trained some of the Arizona employees in Taiwan, and workers from Taiwan have also continued to arrive in the U.S.
The controversy around the Arizona site surfaced yesterday when AZFamily reported that sources had told it they were worried that the new workers from Taiwan might lead to job losses or pay losses.
According to AZFamily's political editor Dennis Welch:
It was revealed earlier this year that the chip manufacturer was bringing in more workers from their home country of Taiwan to speed up construction. Now the company, TSMC, didn't say how many workers they were bringing here to complete this project they hope to finish by the start of next year.
At the time we were told that the additional workers would not impact the thousands of construction workers already builng the $40 billion factory. In recent days multiple sources have come forward to Arizona's Family telling us they feel the new workers are here to replace them; or as an excuse to cut their pay. Those sources, not willing to go on camera for fear of retribution. Earlier today we reached out for comment to TSMC and to a general contractor for the project. So far neither have responded to our questions.
Now, TSMC has responded to these concerns in a statement worded in Taiwanese to the United Daily News (UDN). The statement shares that the company is yet to determine the number of employees that it will send to the U.S. facility, but when they do arrive, they will be in the country for a temporary period and their presence will not affect the 12,000 employees currently on site.
The Google-translated version of the statement is as follows:
In Arizona, TSMC is building what will be the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology factory in the United States. It will not only build American production capacity for our customers, but also benefit the United States by rebuilding the resilience of chip manufacturing.
As we are at the critical stage of handling all state-of-the-art and sophisticated equipment in a sophisticated facility, we need specific technical expertise for TSMC's Arizona fab activities and are temporarily bringing select professionals with strong experience to Arizona - also That's E-2 visa holders - to support this work, jumpstart this program. As of now, the number of workers coming to Arizona has not been determined, but will only be in Arizona for a limited time for this particular program and will not affect the 12,000 workers currently at the site each day, nor will it affect our U.S. employment.
We look forward to accelerating this program, ultimately stimulating economic outcomes, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, and driving innovation in Arizona and across the United States.
Statement from TSMC to Arizona's Family
WccftechContinue reading/original-link]
