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.
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.
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.
@jscummy @JustZ
More so these days it’s all about the “money”, as in wages.
Companies are too beholden to investors instead of the company. When the rich boys scream about wages sucking up too much of their profits, this is what happens.
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.