TAIPEI – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is aggressively recruiting more than 600 engineers and executives for what will be the first US factory in 20 years, Nikkei Asia has learned.
The world’s largest contract chip maker will initially bring together a mix of current employees and new hires to man a $ 12 billion chip factory to be built in Arizona next year, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu told Nikkei. The hiring comes as US officials and lawmakers are calling on semiconductor companies to bring more of their operations to the US
According to Liu, a working group of more than 300 current employees and managers with experience in developing and manufacturing 5-nanometer chips will be dispatched to get the plant off the ground. Five nanometer chips are the most advanced in the world and are used in the latest iPhone 12 range and Mac processors. The US has agreed to offer as many work visas as TSMC requires for this purpose, sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei.
In addition, TSMC is recruiting 300 recent graduates and young engineers with one to two years of experience who are already eligible to work in the US, Liu said. The Chairman added that TSMC plans to bring these newly hired engineers to the southern Taiwan city of Tainan, where the company’s current 5nm chip factory is located, for an intensive training program lasting about a year before moving to Arizona leave.
“All communication and training within this program will be conducted in English to facilitate future coordination,” he said.
TSMC’s recruitment for the Arizona plant comes as the US ramps up its efforts to revive semiconductor manufacturing leadership in the country. Intel, the largest US chip maker by revenue, acknowledged in July that it was facing significant delays in implementing its chip technologies and is considering outsourcing production as a contingency plan. US lawmakers, meanwhile, are finalizing $ 25 billion in tax incentives to revitalize local chip production and stem China’s surging technological development.
The US continues to have the largest chip industry in the world in terms of revenues, despite the fact that South Korea and Taiwan now own a significant portion of advanced chip manufacturing capacity. According to IC Insights, Asia has become the world’s leading chip manufacturing region, accounting for 75% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Taiwan alone accounted for 22% of global production, the majority of which was contributed by TSMC.
The US has also cited security concerns in its bid to strengthen its domestic semiconductor industry. TSMC is a major chip supplier for Apple and most other chip and technology giants such as Intel, Qualcomm and Google, as well as making chips for US chip designer Xilinx that are used in F-35 fighter jets.
Washington has stepped up pressure on the Taiwanese company to manufacture its chips for military use in the US to ensure production of the high-security components is free from potential Chinese interference, Nikkei Asia first reported in January. TSMC was also forced to stop supplying key customer Huawei Technologies after the US imposed tougher trade restrictions on the Chinese technology giant earlier this year, citing national security risks.
TSMC isn’t the only Asian chip giant to heed Washington’s call. Samsung, TSMC’s main rival in the foundry industry, as chip making is known to others, plans to expand its chip capacity in Texas to lure US customers such as Apple, Google, Qualcomm and Tesla. Samsung shared orders for Apple’s iPhone processor chips with TSMC until 2016. Samsung is also the world’s largest memory chip maker, supplying most device manufacturers.
TSMC announced its intention to build a 5nm chip plant in Arizona in May. In November, TSMC established a wholly owned subsidiary in the state with paid-in capital of $ 3.5 billion. This was followed late last month by officials in Phoenix, Arizona, who approved a development agreement with TSMC that will provide $ 205 million in city funds for infrastructure such as roads and water improvements. On December 22, Taiwanese regulators approved TSMC’s investment in the US
TSMC said construction of the Arizona plant will begin next year and production will begin in 2024. The plant will eventually create more than 1,600 jobs directly and thousands of indirect jobs for the semiconductor ecosystem, the company said. Many TSMC vendors, such as Marketech International Corp., a semiconductor facility builder, and leading chip material supplier Entegris, have all indicated plans to expand in Arizona.
According to TSMC’s website, it hires R&D engineers, process engineers, equipment engineers, IT software engineers, and other positions required to operate an advanced chip factory.