According to the news on May 27, Beijing time, there is a chip factory under construction in the north and south of Phoenix, the north is a chip manufacturing factory invested by TSMC with a US $12 billion investment, and the south is an old factory invested by Intel with a US $20 billion investment. Although both factories are planned to be put into operation in 2024, they have started a competition for talents, and TSMC is obviously at a disadvantage**
It is already difficult to recruit enough construction workers alone. Nikkei Asia once published an article saying that TSMC has delayed the mobilization of equipment from around September this year to the first quarter of 2023 due to the skip of civil engineering tasks.
For the recruitment of high-tech talents and engineers, the recruitment of construction workers is just an "appetizer". Usually, with Apple Compared with consumer Internet companies such as, Facebook and Google, chip manufacturing jobs are not very attractive in the United States, and many Americans have not even heard of such jobs.
The fact that Americans are unfamiliar with the chip manufacturing industry means that even Intel needs a lot of trouble to attract the right talent. One of the measures taken by Intel is to work closely with local universities, especially Arizona State University.
Arizona State University School of engineering is the largest engineering school in the United States, with nearly 27000 students. The question is: is TSMC attractive to them? Since the university has established a long-term close cooperative relationship with Intel and a large number of alumni work at Intel, the student union gives priority to Intel.
The source told Nikkei Asia that TSMC had taken precautions and tried to recruit enough talents. TSMC initially planned to recruit employees mainly in the United States, and then send them to Taiwan for training. After realizing the difficulty of recruitment in the United States, TSMC decided to recruit talents in Taiwan at the same time.
At present, TSMC's human resources team is negotiating cooperation with universities and community universities to establish a talent pool in Arizona.
In addition to engineers, chip manufacturers in Arizona are thirsty for skilled workers responsible for factory production. Skilled workers have certain requirements for physical fitness. Their work includes moving heavy production tools and touring the plant.
The salary of TSMC's American employees is not attractive
TSMC's salary is attractive in Taiwan, but not in the United States. The average annual salary of TSMC engineers in the United States is US $118000, and the average salary of Intel engineers exceeds US $128000. To make matters worse, many Silicon Valley companies also target these students and offer higher salaries. Another obstacle TSMC faces is culture. The interview with suppliers and employees by Nikkei Asia shows that TSMC is "notorious" for its long working hours, strict management, and attention to work discipline and the relationship between superiors and subordinates. It is common for employees to work overtime. (author / Shuangye)