The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) on December 6 last year said it would triple its investment at its Arizona plant in the U.S. from $12 billion planned in May 2020 to $40 billion. On the same day, U.S. President Joe Biden visited the site and hailed the project, saying “American manufacturing is back, folks.”
Is it? Recent interviews with 11 TSMC employees conducted by The New York Times revealed how doubts are rising inside the world’s chipmaking leader—headquartered in China’s Taiwan region. Calvin Su, President of chemical supplier Chang Chun Arizona, told the newspaper on February 22 that the factory’s construction would cost 10 times than that in Taiwan due to “unfamiliarity with U.S. regulations and building permits, as well as an insufficient supply of production materials.”
Then there’s the aspect.
