TAIPEI – Taiwan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. aggressively employs over 600 engineers and executives for what will be its first U.S. plant in 20 years, Nikkei Asia has learned.
The world’s largest contract maker will first bring together a mix of existing employees and new employers to create workers at a $ 12 billion chip-making plant that will begin construction next in Arizona, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu told Nikkei. The recruitment drive comes with American officials and lawyers calling on semiconductor companies to give more of their jobs to the US
According to Liu, an action group of more than 300 employees and routine managers with experience in developing and manufacturing 5-nanometer slits will help take the plant off the ground. Five-nanometer chips are the most advanced in the world and are used in the range of the latest iPhone 12 and Mac processors. The U.S. has agreed to offer TSMC the amount of work visa required for this purpose, sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei.
In addition, TSMC employs 300 new graduates and young engineers with one or two years of experience already eligible for work in the U.S., Liu said. The chairman said TSMC plans to recruit these new engineers to the Taiwanese city of Tain, where the company’s standard 5-nm chip center is based, for a year-long intensive training program before leaving for Arizona. .
“All communication and training within this program will be conducted in English to enable future co-ordination,” he said.
TSMC’s hiring for the Arizona factory comes as the U.S. raises efforts to revive the country’s semifinal manufacturing leadership. Intel, the largest American chip maker by revenue, acknowledged in July that there were significant delays in pushing forward its chip – making technologies and was considering a product launch. -out as a contingency plan. At the same time, U.S. lawmakers are finalizing $ 25 billion in tax incentives to revive local chip production and oppose China’s technological development.
The core U.S. chip industry remains revenue-generating despite the fact that South Korea and Taiwan now control a significant portion of advanced chip manufacturing capacity. According to IC Insights, Asia has become the most important chip manufacturing sector in the world, accounting for 75% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Taiwan alone accounted for 22% of global production, with the majority supplied by TSMC.
The U.S. has also cited security concerns in their effort to boost their domestic semiconductor business. TSMC is a major chip supplier for Apple and most other chip and tech giants like Intel, Qualcomm and Google, but it also makes chips for US chip designer Xilinx that are used in fighter jets F-35.
Washington has pressed the Taiwanese company to implement its weapons deployment clearances in the U.S. to ensure that the manufacture of high-security parts is free from potential Chinese intervention, he said. Nikkei Asia first reported in January last year. TSMC also had to make a move to replace key customers of Huawei Technologies after the U.S. earlier this year lifted tighter trade restrictions on the Chinese tech giant, announcing national security threats.
TSMC isn’t the only Asian chip giant eating Washington’s call. Samsung, TSMC’s main competitor in the foundry sector, as the industry is known for making chips for others, plans to expand its chip capacity in Texas to American clients such as Apple, Google , Qualcomm and Tesla. Samsung shared orders for Apple iPhone processor chips with TSMC until 2016. Samsung is also the world’s largest memory chipmaker, supplying most of the device manufacturers.
TSMC announced plans to build a 5-nm chip plant in Arizona in May. In November, TSMC established a wholly owned subsidiary in the state with a paid-up capital of $ 3.5 billion. This was followed up late in the month by officials in Phoenix, Arizona, approving a development agreement with TSMC that will provide $ 205 million in city funds for infrastructure such as roads and water improvements. On December 22, Taiwanese regulators approved TSMC’s investment in the US
TSMC said Arizona factory construction will begin next year and production will begin in 2024. The plant will eventually create more than 1,600 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs for the semiconductor ecosystem , the company said. Many TSMC suppliers such as Marketech International Corp., a semiconductor facility builder, as well as major chip product supplier Entegris have all plans to expand in Arizona.
According to the TSMC website it employs R&D engineers, process engineers, equipment engineers, IT software engineer and other positions needed to run an advanced chip center.