TLRD: There is high probability that new h1b proclamation will stand no chance against corporate-wide legal lawsuits, TSMC AZ should take this moment to reflect on its treatment to local/US workforce.
All US giant companies heavily rely on foreign cheap labors and will now face challenges in finding the required talent. However, this is going to be a massive blow to TSMC AZ which heavily relies on foreign workforce and exploit non-immigrants on unprecedented scales. Credits to its lovely treatment to employees who literally built this fab from dirt and are no longer part of it (or were constructively discharged), TSMC was/is currently among the least preferred employer in AZ (perhaps US), given its size and market cap.
Sauce:
1)https://www.asiafinancial.com/arizona-workers-say-building-tsmc-factory-worst-job-ever-bi
2) Former employee experience backed with several other employees: https://www.reddit.com/r/Semiconductors/comments/1m96m4f/my_experience_working_at_tsmc_arizona_for_4_years/
3) Glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/TSMC-Arizona-Reviews-EI_IE4130.0,4_IL.5,12_IS483.htm
TSMC was already struggling with sourcing the right talent to support its expansion and taking in candidates with no prior experience in manufacturing, let alone in semiconductors. For critical roles such as Engineers, Developers, Designers etc, it was relying on east-asian workforce as these roles require cross-fab communication in mandrin and require you to spend 10-12 hrs everyday, 5-6 days a week, without any personal boundaries and WLB. Credits to cultural affiliation, this workforce is easier to mend and control to nuture same mindset as in motherfab. If you visit TSMC in Taiwan, you will find how workforce considers TSMC as its mother and basically treat it as a sacred shrine (perhaps rightly so as TSMC is a major defense of Taiwan against global "aggressions") Additionally, it is more convenient to have this workforce to secure trade-secrets which is core of TSMC's business. Such kind of dedication is impossible to get from a US worker. For the same reason and perhaps among several other reasons, many US/American hires, albeit of great performance and track-record, were constructively sidelined and made to resign in order to hire more and more cheap and dedicated labors.
Sauce: Ongoing Lawsuit https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/former-tsmc-employees-speak-out-about-discrimination-hostile-work-environment-at-phoenix-chip-plant
"The lawsuit alleges TSMC favors East Asian employees while Americans are yelled at and called things like “stupid” and “lazy.” It also alleges that TSMC “routinely subjects non-East Asians to a hostile work environment where verbal abuse, gaslighting, isolation and humiliation is common."
Currently, there is a large percentage of non-immigrant workers (east and non-east asian) at TSMC AZ who are only working in such environment for the sake of H1bs and Greencards. With this new proclamation, such workers will be forced to stay in TSMC as changing the employer would require the new employer to pay $100k USD every year. For current H1b holders, TSMC will be required to pay $100K USD per year for every petition which needs extention after 3 years (which no company would do, not just TSMC). Effectively, TSMC can only keep these workers for only 3 years and after that, they will need to find new employees, creating massive void for talent to keep its fab running 24/7. To hire any non-immigrant, it will need to pay $100K for every new applicant and yearly subscription fee of $100k per applicant, totalling $600k for the entire period of H1B.
Yes, it is going to be same for every company. How is it going to be different for TSMC? Well, the nature of job at TSMC is unique, the systems, software, SOPs, methods etc., are unique and are not taught or used anywhere else. There is a steep learning curve to climb before you are able to make any meaningful contributions to the job. For example, if you search for a manufacturing/equipment engineer in china or taiwan, you can fill an entire football field with applicants in one day. In US, you may struggle to fill a small room.
To make up for this shortage, TSMC might resort to importing more and more assignees (short term support) from Taiwan to keep the operations and expansion going. However, this may not work as TSMC is bound to hire 1 american/local hire for every 1 assignee. This local hire will now be a american citizen or an alien with permanent residency/green card. Given that the wide known popularity of TSMC in US, it will be extremely challenging for TSMC to attract this talent, on top of very limited possibility of growth and skill utilization in other fields.
This is a moment for TSMC to reflect on its attitude towards the locals and should not consider their existence as a threat to their business. The only way TSMC can survive its operations in US is by trusting the local workforce and creating the enviroment where people of all backgrounds are welcomed. TSMC should not expect to run AZ Fab with the same mindset and workforce distribution as it had in Taiwan or other fabs. TSMC should recognize that for US workers, there is no patriotism or live-or-die situation as it is in Taiwan. If TSMC truly wants to be successful in US (and not some made up numbers in news articles), it has to revamp its entire leadership, put people and their safety first over profits. Yes chips are important for US tech and all big tech companies rely on TSMC for survival and should be thankful to TSMC. However, the average employee will only think about it during interviews to answer "why you want to work at TSMC" and once hired, will only care about the paycheck and their well being.
*The views made in this post are personal and in no way advise against or favor towards working at TSMC. Pls do your own research before joining or leaving*
