TSMC Approves 3.5 Billion Dollar Arizona Foundry

[Uskompuf]

TSMC plans to open a new 3.5 billion dollar foundry in Arizona with a new wholly-owned US subsidiary. The new foundry will begin construction in 2021 with an expected completion date of 2024. The new facility will target production volumes of 20,000 wafers per month with 5 nm production being the main priority. TSMC will be joining Intel who also produces chips in Arizona enabling them to tap into this well-established supply chain. TSMC plans to employ 1,600 staff at the facility which will be their most advanced facility outside of Taiwan. The new foundry will likely be popular with US customers and military applications requiring more secure facilities.



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[btarunr]

The ultimate "thank you" to the people who midwifed this deal, by investing in a blue state.

I was betting on Texas.

 

[Caring1]

Military backing helping to fund this?

 

[the54thvoid]

Military backing helping to fund this?

War supercedes everything when it comes to investment.

 

[TheLostSwede]

They also just increased new hire salaries in Taiwan by 20%. So instead of getting paid next to nothing, now they get paid a little bit more than next to nothing.
I honestly don't understand why people would agree to work for TSMC for these kind of salaries. Foreign white collar workers in Taiwan in comparison has a minimum salary requirement of NT$47,000, so compared to the current pay at TSMC, an English teacher in Taiwan would earn (and most likely still earns) more than a master degree engineer at TSMC. The few English teachers I know earn at least NT$60,000 a month, most of them earn more. It's no wonder so many ex TSMC engineers were willing to move to China for better pay.

Taiwan's TSMC to implement 20% pay increase 2021: Report | Taiwan News | Nov. 13, 2020 11:00

www.taiwannews.com.tw

 

[Flanker]

I honestly don't understand why people would agree to work for TSMC for these kind of salaries.

The main reason being there isn't really much of a choice. TSMC is actually quite generous comparing to other tech companies in Taiwan. Another thing is a big chunk of the total pay package, 30%+, come from new year bonuses and stock shares so judging by monthly salaries isn't always indicative.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The main reason being there isn't really much of a choice. TSMC is actually quite generous comparing to other tech companies in Taiwan. Another thing is a big chunk of the total pay package, 30%+, come from new year bonuses and stock shares so judging by monthly salaries isn't always indicative.

That looks like it's about to change, according to the news article.

However, bonuses for employees are likely to be curtailed, meaning workers’ annual income may not see a significant change.

Obviously bonuses are a huge part of peoples pay packages in Taiwan, but it's also being abused. HTC for example breaks down the bonus into three chunks of 40%, 30% and 30%. So say your bonus is NT$100,000, you get 40k in the first year, another 30k the next year and the final 30k in the last year.
This is a scam to keep people at the companies and should be illegal imho.
Workers rights in Taiwan are not high on the agenda.

 

[Flanker]

That looks like it's about to change, according to the news article.

Obviously bonuses are a huge part of peoples pay packages in Taiwan, but it's also being abused. HTC for example breaks down the bonus into three chunks of 40%, 30% and 30%. So say your bonus is NT$100,000, you get 40k in the first year, another 30k the next year and the final 30k in the last year.
This is a scam to keep people at the companies and should be illegal imho.
Workers rights in Taiwan are not high on the agenda.

Yeah that's bull.
Workers rights in Taiwan? When is the last time you've seen a union achieved anything? The last strike I recall was 2016 flight attendants' strike and it was politically driven (coincided with the start of Tsai's first term), and not actually about worker's benefits.

 

[Space Lynx]

yawn, you can all your have 5nm in 2024/2025 - I will be rocking 3nm cpu/gpu by then if AMD's roadmap is anything to go by.

The ultimate "thank you" to the people who midwifed this deal, by investing in a blue state.

I was betting on Texas.

Factories do love states where you can fire people for no reason needed.

What is Wrongful Termination? Most employees in Arizona are hired at-will, meaning their employment is not guaranteed by a written contract or agreement. Under this arrangement, an employer is allowed to terminate an employee at any time without cause or recourse.

 

[bonehead123]

Factories do love states where you can fire people for no reason needed.

What is Wrongful Termination? Most employees in Arizona are hired at-will, meaning their employment is not guaranteed by a written contract or agreement. Under this arrangement, an employer is allowed to terminate an employee at any time without cause or recourse.

BYW, this is a fact of life in almost EVERY state in the US...UNLESS you are an executive/upper mgr etc.... I've been in the workforce for almost 50yrs all across the country, and have yet to work in a state that does not allow this....

Yes it SUCKS bigtime, but whatcha gonna do to keep the lights on & the kids fed ????

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

BYW, this is a fact of life in almost EVERY state in the US...UNLESS you are an executive/upper mgr etc.... I've been in the workforce for almost 50yrs all across the country, and have yet to work in a state that does not allow this....

Yes it SUCKS bigtime, but whatcha gonna do to keep the lights on & the kids fed ????

You're right, a long history of legal precedent has been established in both states and the federal Supreme Court to ensure that employees are treated like garbage, and nobody should ever expect any branch of government, regardless of which pro-corporate party its run by, to remedy this situation. The only way it'd ever get fixed is through labor power a d unionization. High levels of unionization is the primary reason why workers in Western Europe have it so much better than American workers.

Did you know, that a McDonald's employee in Denmark gets paid $20/hr and has, I believe, a month's paid vacation they day they start. This means that mcdonald's can afford to pay this much and still remain profitable, they just don't do it in America because they don't have to... Until we make them. Take ten minutes and Google how much better workers in Western Europe have it that American workers, from paid maternity leave (which in most of Europe is at least 35 weeks with 100% salary) to safety regulations, to paid vacation...

Denmark McDonald's Workers Get Paid Vastly Higher Wages

McDonald's has warned that wage increases in the U.S. would force franchisees to raise menu prices.

www.google.com

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

The ultimate "thank you" to the people who midwifed this deal, by investing in a blue state.

I was betting on Texas.

What does this mean? I'm honestly asking

The 8 hour work day, safety regulations, the end of child labor... Unions have achieved a lot, and in Western Europe, where their workers have high unionization rates and some of the best working conditions and pay in the world, you can say they've achieved a lot. Let's not forget that America was home to most of the deadliest strikes in history, like the Ludlow Massacre where Colorado state militia and national guard troops literally machine gunned striking workers families in their tents while they slept.... Union members and their families literally gave their lives for the few workers rights we have in America and they didn't come from anywhere else, so it might be worth reexamining the history or the labor movement in America.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Take ten minutes and Google how much better workers in Western Europe

That depends on the work. In my industry, post-tax income of engineers in Western European is approximately half of that of US engineers.

 

[Space Lynx]

That depends on the work. In my industry, post-tax income of engineers in Western European is approximately half of that of US engineers.

I doubt very much, a lot goes into play, location within America, experience, school attended, etc. There are probably several engineers here in similar field making similar "net-take home pay" as you once you include all variables. Is the engineer in San Fran or Seattle, then yeah of course they get paid more, fast workers get paid double in those cities too. They also have to spend more to survive compared to cheaper areas to live.

 

[Flanker]

The 8 hour work day, safety regulations, the end of child labor... Unions have achieved a lot, and in Western Europe, where their workers have high unionization rates and some of the best working conditions and pay in the world, you can say they've achieved a lot. Let's not forget that America was home to most of the deadliest strikes in history, like the Ludlow Massacre where Colorado state militia and national guard troops literally machine gunned striking workers families in their tents while they slept.... Union members and their families literally gave their lives for the few workers rights we have in America and they didn't come from anywhere else, so it might be worth reexamining the history or the labor movement in America.

Sorry, I should have specified the unions in Taiwan

 

[btarunr]

What does this mean? I'm honestly asking

The Trump administration had a role to play in getting TSMC to open a fab in the US, as part of a larger play to isolate Chinese semiconductor manufacturing. TSMC chose AZ.

 

[yotano211]

I doubt very much, a lot goes into play, location within America, experience, school attended, etc. There are probably several engineers here in similar field making similar "net-take home pay" as you once you include all variables. Is the engineer in San Fran or Seattle, then yeah of course they get paid more, fast workers get paid double in those cities too. They also have to spend more to survive compared to cheaper areas to live.

Pay rate is important but so is the living expense in cities. The two cities that you mentioned, san fran and seattle have a huge cost of living.
I know a person who worked for Apple in san fran but had to live with 3 other roommates in a 3 bedroom apartment. His salary was over 105k about 8 years ago.

 

[Space Lynx]

Pay rate is important but so is the living expense in cities. The two cities that you mentioned, san fran and seattle have a huge cost of living.
I know a person who worked for Apple in san fran but had to live with 3 other roommates in a 3 bedroom apartment. His salary was over 105k about 8 years ago.

that was the point I was making to him

 

[ValenOne]

Military backing helping to fund this?

Do you want to be a pushover like the Philippines military?

 

[remixedcat]

Why AZ it's hot AF there and not the cheapest. Prices gone up a lot and it's gotten californicated so they still have anti biz stances and laws.

WV has tons of cheap land and better weather.

 

[yotano211]

that was the point I was making to him

yea i knew that

 

[Night]

It was supposed to be $12B invested: https://time.com/5837274/tsm-chip-plant-arizona/
Now it's 3.5 billion heh, there isn't a branch that wasn't affected by Covid

 

[MikeMurphy]

Why AZ it's hot AF there and not the cheapest. Prices gone up a lot and it's gotten californicated so they still have anti biz stances and laws.

WV has tons of cheap land and better weather.

Probably better tax breaks.

 

[Space Lynx]

TSMC Achieves Major Breakthrough in 2 nm Manufacturing Process, Risk Production in 2023

The Taiwan Economic Daily claims that TSMC has achieved a major internal breakthrough for the eventual rollout of 2 nm fabrication process technology. According to the publication, this breakthrough has turned TSMC even more optimistic towards a 2023 rollout of 2 nm risk production - which is...

www.techpowerup.com

and we come full circle... wth is the point of building 5nm facility when 2nm is ready to go....

 

[remixedcat]

Probably better tax breaks.

Yeah but the price increases in other aspects nullifies the tax break... like cost of living, gas prices, utilities, etc all have gone up a lot in that state. WV has been very steady. Rents and mortgages have been stable and also tons of new development lately. Tons of cheap land here in PKB.WV . 640 acres out by fedex,hotels, and near an airport would be a nice place for something like that here.