TSMC blamed Arizona workers for delaying the construction of its Phoenix chip plant. But those union workers say the real issue is bad management.

  • TSMC says its Arizona chip factory’s opening has been delayed partly over a skilled-worker shortage.

  • We spoke with two workers at the site who said poor management was the real reason.

  • Some Phoenix workers have also accused the company of safety violations.

  • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
    7·
    1 year ago

    From what I understand, TSMC is trying to run this like it’s Taiwan. So, they’re trying to dictate terms to both construction contractors and potential employees. In Taiwan, TSMC is the only game in town and is a huge part of the economy, so they can get away with this. Here, there’s all sorts of other industries and Intel is right down the road to hire away engineers if the working conditions are too brutal or the pay is too low.

    So, they’re trying to bring in workers from Taiwan for both construction and running the plant. But they’re running into problems with visas and worker availability, so everything is getting delayed because they aren’t okay with union labor in the US.

    Your tl;Dr is that TSMC showed up and started swinging their dick around, and it didn’t work as well as they thought it would, so it’s been much harder for them to start the plant than they thought it would be.