TSMC is at a disadvantage in the talent war with Intel in the US plant construction

Beijing time on May 27, there is a chip factory under construction in the north and south of Phoenix, USA. In the north is TSMC's $12 billion chip manufacturing factory, and in the south, Intel invested $20 billion to renovate an old factory. Although both factories are scheduled to be put into production in 2024, they have already started a war for talent, and TSMC is clearly at a disadvantage.

Just recruiting enough construction workers is already difficult. Nikkei Asia once published an article saying that TSMC has postponed the arrival of equipment from around September this year to the first quarter of 2023 due to the delay in construction tasks.

Recruiting construction workers is just an appetizer for recruiting high-tech talents and engineers. Generally speaking, compared with consumer Internet companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google, chip manufacturing jobs are not very attractive in the United States, and many Americans have not even heard of such jobs.

Americans' unfamiliarity with the chip manufacturing industry meant that even Intel had to go to great lengths to attract the right talent. One of the steps Intel took was to work closely with local universities, especially Arizona State University.

Arizona State University's College of Engineering is the largest engineering school in the United States, with nearly 27,000 students. The question is: Is TSMC also attractive to them? Since the university has a long-term close relationship with Intel and a large number of alumni work at Intel, students will give priority to Intel.

Sources told Nikkei Asia that TSMC has prepared for the rainy day and tried to recruit enough talent. TSMC initially planned to recruit employees mainly in the United States and then send them to Taiwan for training. After realizing the difficulty of recruiting in the United States, TSMC decided to recruit talent in Taiwan at the same time.

Currently, TSMC's human resources team is negotiating cooperation with universities and community colleges to establish a talent pool in Arizona.

In addition to engineers, Arizona chip manufacturers are eager to recruit skilled workers responsible for factory production. Skilled workers have certain physical requirements, and their work includes moving heavy production tools and patrolling the factory.

TSMC's US employee salaries are unattractive

TSMC's salary is attractive in Taiwan, but not in the United States. TSMC's American engineers earn an average of $118,000 a year, while Intel's engineers earn an average of more than $128,000. To make matters worse, many Silicon Valley companies are also eyeing these students and offering higher salaries. Another obstacle TSMC faces is culture. Nikkei Asia's interviews with suppliers and employees show that TSMC is "notorious" for long working hours, strict management, and emphasis on work discipline and superior-subordinate relationships. It is common for employees to work overtime.