Employee tensions over management culture at TSMC US fab: New York Times report

Reports claim that tensions are growing at the new TSMC chip manufacturing facility in the U.S. Employees at the fab in Arizona are dissatisfied with the managerial style of the Taiwanese chip giant, claims a report from the New York Times. The news has sparked debate about the viability of replicating East Asian tech industry norms in Western countries. Youtuber Wen Rui has linked the issue with Samsung’s growing pains when it expanded into the U.S. And others are pointing to the link between Taiwan’s silicon industry and increasingly robust support for Taiwan in the U.S.

TSMC has opened its new fab in Arizona. But U.S. employees are questioning the Taiwanese management culture in their new workplace. Even the New York Times has published a report on what it calls “rising doubts.” And YouTuber Wen Rui has commented, based on his experience working for Samsung. He says that Korean tech giants also went through culture shock when expanding into U.S. labor markets. He believes that TSMC has a successful operating model in Taiwan, and it could succeed in the U.S. too – but not without great difficulty.

Wen Rui
YouTuber
The whole success of the chip industry in Taiwan cannot be replicated. It has set the scope for a complete chip production chain, including low production costs. High-end chips will continue to be made in Taiwan. The U.S. must make a “compulsory action,” to protect Taiwan.

Wen Rui says the U.S. has realized the importance of Taiwan’s silicon industry. That’s one reason why, according to the Wall Street Journal, more U.S. troops are being stationed in Taiwan. Meanwhile, silicon industry consultant Chai Huan-hsin says: although TSMC technology is one step ahead of the competition now, it can’t get complacent.

Chai Huan-hsin
Photonics Industry Association
Engineers in Taiwan and South Korea have certainly been working flat out and busting a gut to stay ahead of the game. That’s why TSMC and also Samsung have been able to overtake Intel on advanced manufacturing processes in the last few years. But that doesn’t mean Intel is out of the game.

Industry experts say TSMC’s new venture in the U.S. highlights its weak international management skills.

Chai Huan-hsin
Photonics Industry Association
I wonder if Taiwanese engineers won’t be quite easily headhunted by Intel, or other semiconductor manufacturers, when their contracts expire. TSMC needs to think deeply about the bigger picture, to be fair to both U.S. and Taiwanese engineers.

It seems that TSMC’s workplace norms are not easily transplanted to the U.S. If the chip giant wants to make inroads in the West, it may need to be willing to remodel more than just silicon.