TSMC needs to hire 4,500 Americans but it's "brutal" corporate culture is getting in the way

i worked as possible to support the house and family. So did my parents Aunts and Uncles and grand parents and all of my friends parents.
 
You might want to research the political history of China vs. Taiwan before making those assumptions. This move by TSMC is largely an act of "risk management" from a geopolitical point-of-view.

On paper, this initiative doesn't make a lot of financial sense.
There is a $280 billion carrot that the current administration is dangling in front of TSMC. Plus, the US has promised to bomb them into oblivion so from risk management perspective it's a prudent move to hedge your bets and bring some of the work to the US.
 
USA has the highest productivity per worker - as measured in $GDP divided by number of workers.

We also have the largest percentage of welfare recipients and gravy train riders. I am pretty sure everywhere I have worked 20% of the workers have produced 80% of the output.

I think the most productive would do perfectly fine working for TSMC. Maybe they would actually get rewarded for it, rather than simply be given more work to do. Its called the tyranny of the competent, and most employers take advantage of it - knowingly or unknowingly I don't know.
 
Isn't that actually indicating that US-produced goods just cost more ? In one hour, the average item produced costs ~$83 while in the same hour, an item made in China costs ~$14.
True and the price delta is narrowing quickly. A few years ago you could pick up an ice cream scoop that was Chinese made for $3 or sio. Granted not well made. The other day Wally world had an American made scoop for 25 dollars or so compred to $13 for the Chinese made scoop.
 
I put in my 9 in and I'm done. My bills are paid. And have the typical first world problems. Why should I work harder and longer? and then live a shorter, less meaningful life? If I were to be cynical, I'll never make what those at the top will, but me working extra hours means they get more money... I get it, they got to the top, and if I wanted to, I could work my way up there (maybe), but going back in time to 6 day at 12hr per day does not sound like "progress" to me.

The movement towards working less hours is overdue. Supposedly America gets the least amount of vacation days for first world countries, and then we don't even take all of them. Makes us wildly productive, but kinda explains the shorter lifespan I'd think.

That said, America didn't get to be first (or biggest or whatever metric you want) by sitting around and letting others do the work. I'm a bit conflicted on this point, if our upcoming generations are more willing to sit back and let other countries take the lead, what could happen?

Anyhow. I suspect TSMC is an extreme case. Hard to change corporate culture, change is hard in general. Now multiple that by cultural norms, and it becomes even harder.
 
Same here. We had less stuff as well. LOTS less, but yet lived great lives IMO.

Work/life balance is a thing, but how are you going to afford a home, car, vacation or just get ahead in life in general w/out working your butt off?

Believe me, I am not bragging, but I've worked over 400hrs of OT since the the first of the year and aside from keeping CC balances about zero and having more money dumped into my retirement, I'm no further ahead being the sole provider for a family of 6. Two, soon to be 3 kids are college age.
I don't want to poo poo on your parade and as I recall, we both bought new Subaru Crosstreks about ten years ago. Since we bought our Crosstreks, you have bought 3 or 4 more new cars while I'm still driving my Crosstek. I value your opinion and I am not criticizing because we all have only one life to live and we should be able to live it as we choose.

I'm 61 now and retired three years ago at 58 and I suspect that you are about 20 years younger than me so I'll just close with this.

No one lies on their deathbed and looks back at their life and says "I wish that I had worked more overtime".
 
I don't want to poo poo on your parade and as I recall, we both bought new Subaru Crosstreks about ten years ago. Since we bought our Crosstreks, you have bought 3 or 4 more new cars while I'm still driving my Crosstek. I value your opinion and I am not criticizing because we all have only one life to live and we should be able to live it as we choose.

I'm 61 now and retired three years ago at 58 and I suspect that you are about 20 years younger than me so I'll just close with this.

No one lies on their deathbed and looks back at their life and says "I wish that I had worked more overtime".

Cant blame the guy for working very hard to support his family and raise children.
 
Isn't that actually indicating that US-produced goods just cost more ? In one hour, the average item produced costs ~$83 while in the same hour, an item made in China costs ~$14.
Possibly, but likely not. Its $ of GDP. So a US worker produces $83 on average of GDP. However most of our economy is service driven, so its somewhat hard to pull out how that works - for example doctors, lawyers, bankers are all in the mix.

However I can tell you from working in 1000's of factories in the last 30 years - there are no American Factory workers "making" anything - there filling bins, operating machines, or repairing stuff. Just about everything produced here now is automated. You might have a stray part attached by hand or something, but for the most part its hands off.
 
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Isn't that actually indicating that US-produced goods just cost more ? In one hour, the average item produced costs ~$83 while in the same hour, an item made in China costs ~$14.
These numbers don't seem credible.
Where did you get them from?
Did you find an authoritative source?
 
This post is about needing 4500 qualified workers. We have to make them. Education is key. A 2 year tech degree at a Community College would fill many of those positions. And others would continue on to advanced degrees.

Semiconductors are the future. Do you want America to have it or do you wanna cede it to our enemies?
 
This post is about needing 4500 qualified workers. We have to make them. Education is key. A 2 year tech degree at a Community College would fill many of those positions. And others would continue on to advanced degrees.
Taiwan’s higher education system, where 31% of university students choose STEM majors—compared to 17.5% in the U.S.—has spoiled TSMC. For jobs in its fabs, the company prefers candidates with Ph.D.s and master’s degrees more so than peers like Intel, says Dylan Patel, a semiconductor industry expert and author of the newsletter SemiAnalysis. Earlier this year, job listings for engineering roles reviewed by Fortune sought candidates with a Ph.D. or master’s degree.

Some industry observers argue that TSMC’s education expectations are unnecessarily high, especially in the U.S., where decades of offshoring chip manufacturing and the lure of Silicon Valley’s high-paying software jobs have created a shortfall of hardware-focused STEM graduates. Consultancy Accenture argues that the U.S. is facing an “acute talent shortage across the entire value chain.” It estimates that the U.S. needs 70,000 to 90,000 “highly-skilled personnel” to fulfill domestic demand for critical semiconductor applications alone, in sectors like aerospace, defense, and automotives.
And
The overseas training component, which requires U.S. staff to spend anywhere from 12 to 18 months in Taiwan, is uncommon among its rivals in the U.S., even foreign-headquartered firms, says Justin Kinsey, president of SBT Industries, a boutique semiconductor recruitment firm.
All I can say is, W-T-heck? I don't know foundry stuff, but I can't imagine it being any more OTJ training than any other job. You get good at it by doing it--start in the field young, the equivalent of being the guy walking mail around and work up. Head into IC design, that I do know a bit more about, and it's kinda foolish to spend a year plus training anyone, not when typical retention is around 5 years these days. Bad ROI. Maybe in Taiwan they can count on retention, but in Silicon Valley? err, that's nearby, but you get the idea. Unless if they are holding a carrot out in front of people fresh out of college, I can't see anyone in their 30's (or more), with a family, house, usual trappings, wanting to spend a year (a year!) overseas for training.

We do have a few foundries in the US:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants
 
I worked 6-7 days a week, multiple jobs.... for many years. It should not be a goal or the dream. It sucks. I did it to pay to raise a family. It's not good for the family though when you're burned out and bummed out on the little time you have off. I am on only 40hrs a week since Covid wrecked everything. It sure is nice having a little time off to work around the house. I still do small side jobs, mostly car and equipment repairs. I feel bad for people who are forced to work 90hrs a week to get by.
 
And that is your issue with an American Workforce - there are inherently differences in workplace culture, expectations and compensation. Unfortunately, these are also areas that can make us less competitive than competing labor pools.

So, if the other competing labor pools continue to be more competitive, we might need to succumb to that type of workplace culture if we wish to remain relevant in this particular industry.
The issue is that the rest of the culture, and expectations need to also align. Not just in the workplace.
 
One of them is that people there simply work way harder than we do. I was talking to my Chinese coworkers and they said a lot of their family work 996 (12 hours 6 days a week). This article talks about some of the differences.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chip-maker-tsmc-needs-hire-100000012.html

Funny, my Chinese coworkers say the white collar jobs in China are very cushy and nobody works very hard. There, most jobs are subsidized by the government so nobody is busting their butt to get ahead. At least that is what they told me.
 
I think a lot of 🧂🧂🧂 is needed with Glassdoor.
Probably… like any reviews, the bad stuff usually is what compels folks to make reviews. We also have a number of toxic, adversarial outlooks in the country that is part of the class warfare, and creation of an underclass with no incentive to work. Mix their softness with their lack of work ethic, and it’s assured that when something goes south it will get a complaint.
 
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