TAIPEI – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is aggressively recruiting more than 600 engineers and executives for what will be its first plant in the United States in 20 years, Nikkei Asia learns.
The world’s largest contracted chip maker will initially bring together a mix of current and new hires to form a $ 12 billion chip factory that will begin construction next year in Arizona, TSMC President Mark Liu told Nikkei . The hiring momentum comes with US officials and lawmakers calling on semiconductor companies to bring more of their operations to the U.S.
According to Liu, a task force of more than 300 current employees and managers with experience in the development and production of 5-nanometer chips will be sent to help lift the factory off the ground. The five-nanometer chips are the most advanced in the world and are used in the latest line of iPhone 12 and Mac processors. The US has agreed to offer as many work visas as TSMC needs for this purpose, sources familiar with the matter said. to Nikkei.
In addition, TSMC is recruiting 300 recent graduates and young engineers with one to two years of experience who are already qualified to work in the United States, said Liu. The president added that TSMC plans to bring these newly hired engineers to the city of Tainan in southern Taiwan, where the company’s current 5 nm chip factory is located, for an intensive training program of approximately a year before leave for Arizona.
“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 at a time when the US is stepping up efforts to revive the country’s semiconductor manufacturing leadership. Intel, America’s largest chip maker by revenue, acknowledged in July that it faced significant delays in advancing its chip-making technologies and was considering outsourcing production as a contingency plan. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are finalizing $ 25 billion in tax incentives to revive local chip production and stem China’s growing technological development.
The United States still has the world’s largest chip industry in revenue, despite the fact that South Korea and Taiwan now control a significant portion of advanced chip-making capacity. According to IC Insights, Asia has become the most important chip-making region in the world, accounting for 75% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Taiwan alone accounted for 22% of global production, with the majority contributed by TSMC.
The United States also cited safety concerns in its effort to strengthen its domestic semiconductor industry. TSMC is the leading chip supplier to Apple and most other chips and technology giants like Intel, Qualcomm and Google, but also manufactures chips for US chip designer Xilinx that are used in F-fighters -35.
Washington has increased pressure on the Taiwanese company to produce its military-grade chips in the United States to ensure that the manufacture of high-security components is free from potential Chinese interference, Nikkei Asia reported for the first time last January. TSMC was also forced to give up on supplying major Huawei Technologies customers after the U.S. earlier this year imposed stricter trade restrictions on the Chinese technology giant, citing national security risks.
TSMC is not the only Asian chip giant to respond to Washington’s call. Samsung, TSMC’s main rival in the foundry industry, as the chip making business for third parties is known, is planning to expand its chip capacity in Texas to attract American customers like 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 5 nm chip factory in Arizona in May. In November, TSMC opened 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, Taiwan regulators approved TSMC’s investment in the United States
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 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs for the semiconductor ecosystem, the company said. Many TSMC suppliers, such as Marketech International Corp., a semiconductor facility builder, as well as the leading supplier of chip materials, Entegris, have indicated expansion plans in Arizona.
According to the TSMC website, it is hiring R&D engineers, process engineers, equipment engineers, IT software engineer and other positions needed to operate an advanced chip factory.