Source: Global Times
[Global Times Special Correspondent Zhang Ruo] TSMC's factory in Phoenix, Arizona, USA ushered in a relocation ceremony on the 6th, and important figures including US President Biden attended. TSMC's opening of a factory in the United States this time is also considered to be the United States' intention to "de-Taiwanize" in the field of chip manufacturing and relocate advanced manufacturing processes to the United States. Although the United States Association in Taiwan and TSMC both denied it, there are generally concerns that Taiwan will be hollowed out on the island.
Taiwan media visited TSMC's factory in the United States
According to the itinerary released by White House , Biden will visit TSMC on the afternoon of the 6th local time, and will make a public speech at 2 pm (5 AM on the 7th Beijing time), and then return to the White House. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raymondo, members of Congress, local officials and TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou , President Wei Zhejia and Chairman Liu Deyin will all attend. In addition, TSMC invited suppliers and Taiwanese officials to attend the meeting, and the initial estimate was as high as 900 people. On the eve of the
ceremony, Taiwanese media reporters arrived at Phoenix City and visited TSMC Fabs and surrounding areas to explore its current construction and development status. The TSMC Arizona plant is located in the northwest of Phoenix City. The factory area covers an area of more than 1,100 acres. It is a new area that is still to be developed and is relatively empty and deserted. The specific address of the wafer factory is at the junction west of Interstate 17 and north of Loop 303. Drive into the park, the road is spacious and empty, and one of the main roads has been blocked by orange and white roadblocks. Drive along the still open road, you can see nearly ten cranes and construction site equipment in the park. A building mainly in yellow and green has been built, with the words "TSMC" (Taipei CMC's English abbreviation). After leaving TSMC's factory, we drove southeast to Lugu. There was a vacant land, which was designated for the construction of TSMC's downstream factories, and several lands are under construction.
The US World Journal said on the 6th that TSMC has carried at least two special planes engineers and families to the United States, most of whom are around 40 years old. Although it is not far from mass production, the supporting living facilities around the factory are still "American". If these TSMC employees and families want to taste the taste of their hometown, they have to drive an hour to southern Phoenix City, and sometimes they even need to rely on Southern California hundreds of miles away.
It is difficult to integrate corporate culture
The inconvenience of life may be overcome, but the change of corporate culture is difficult. United News Network html said on the 36th that internal employees revealed that Taiwanese engineers are hard-working and working 12 hours a day is commonplace.
Germany claims that after TSMC decided to invest in the United States to set up a factory, it recruited a group of American engineers in the United States to send them to Taiwan for training. As a result, these people find it difficult to adapt to TSMC's corporate culture and have great opinions on the daily management methods of companies such as on duty and meetings. The article believes that behind these news, not only shows the difficulties of TSMC in setting up factories in the United States on personnel issues, but also shows why TSMC is not worried that the United States will replace Taiwan's technology center.
Taiwan authorities also continue to claim that there is no problem of "de-Taiwanization". Taiwan's "Foreign Minister" Wu Zhaoxie said on the 5th that TSMC went to the United States to set up a factory "without a secret agreement and no de-Taiwanese". This is an expansion of Taiwan's industrial strength and there is no worry about losing the "Sanctuary of the Taiwan Protecting the Taiwan Strait". Morgan Stanley released a report saying that TSMC's establishment in the United States is like reaffirming TSMC's foundation position in the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors in the United States, and will also help alleviate investors' concerns about the supply chain.
"De-Taiwanized" has another meaning
China Times Electronic News html reviewed on the 35th that the United States asked TSMC to set up a factory in the United States, but TSMC originally had a cold reaction. However, the US government is "firm to the will", and TSMC finally agreed to spend $12 billion to set up a factory, start construction in 2021, and start mass production in 2024. TSMC announced on the 6th that the Arizona fab began to build the second phase of the project, and is expected to start production of 3nm process technology in 2026. The total investment in the two phases of the project is about US$40 billion.
technology expert Xu Meihua raised four major questions on the 6th, including whether Taiwan will be TSMC's long-term largest production base, whether it will be the production base for TSMC's most advanced processes, whether it will be TSMC's long-term R&D base for the most advanced technology, and whether it will be TSMC's long-term global headquarters. He called on TSMC to respond to online rumors.
American scholar Bao Jialin wrote an article analyzing the power supply environment of TSMC's factories in the United States. The article stated that there is an assessment that if Lake Mead releases water at the current rate in the next two years, California and Arizona will not be able to get river water. What's more serious is that if the lake level falls below 950 feet, the generators of the Hoover Dam will not be able to operate. By then, 8 million people in the southwestern United States will have no power. This means that in two or three years, the southwestern United States will not only be short of water, but also likely to be short of electricity.
"Hidden concerns about TSMC's move to the United States," a commentary published by the China Times stated that even though many people say that TSMC's establishment of a factory in the United States will benefit TSMC's global layout in the long run, it will not damage Taiwan's semiconductor strength. However, ultimately, TSMC's move is still based on geopolitical considerations rather than a purely commercial rational decision. The article said that Taiwan's political and security dependence on the United States has forced TSMC to join the U.S. chip camp, and the result of "pro-U.S. resistance to China" has led to increasingly tense relations between Taiwan and the mainland. "TSMC's de-Taiwanization is not necessarily the outflow of key technologies from Taiwan to the United States, but that although it is still a world-class chip manufacturer based in Taiwan, many of the decisions it makes are no longer controlled by Taiwan." China Times Electronic News published an editorial criticizing that TSMC's process technology is ahead of American manufacturers. The United States does not review the reasons for its backwardness, but uses Taiwan's security risks as a reason to require TSMC to transfer talents and production capacity to the United States. TSMC's "sin of harboring a treasure" is very unfair to Taiwan. Faced with TSMC's problems, the DPP authorities must strengthen talent and R&D policies on the one hand, and on the other hand, ease cross-strait tensions and alleviate U.S. security concerns.
