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TSMC Arizona struggles to overcome vast differences between Taiwanese and US work culture

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s largest advanced computer chip manufacturers, continues finding its efforts to get its Arizona facility up and running to be more difficult than it anticipated. The chip maker’s 5nm wafer fab was supposed to go online in 2024 but has faced numerous setbacks and now isn’t expected to begin production until 2025. The trouble the semiconductor has been facing boils down to a key difference between Taiwan and the U.S.: workplace culture. A New York Times report highlights the continuing struggle.

One big problem is that TSMC has been trying to do things the Taiwanese way, even in the U.S. In Taiwan, TSMC is known for extremely rigorous working conditions, including 12-hour work days that extend into the weekends and calling employees into work in the middle of the night for emergencies. TSMC managers in Taiwan are also known to use harsh treatment and threaten workers with being fired for relatively minor failures.

TSMC quickly learned that such practices won’t work in the U.S. Recent reports indicated that the company’s labor force in Arizona is leaving the new plant over these perceived abuses, and TSMC is struggling to fill those vacancies. TSMC is already heavily dependent on employees brought over from Taiwan, with almost half of its current 2,200 employees in Phoenix coming over as Taiwanese transplants.

432 ,

So what happens to Taiwanese manufacturing when their population collapses due to a super low birthrate. They right behind South Korea in lowest TFR.

TheGrandNagus ,

It’s happening all over the place. They’re either going to have to lean heavily into automation (where possible), and/or accept mass immigration from parts of the world that continue to have a high birth rate – although as we’re seeing in a lot of places, that can be a tough sell politically.

wizardbeard ,

accept mass immigration from parts of the world that continue to have a high birth rate

Would that not likely result in similar, but different, friction between cultural expectations about working conditions etc?

To my thinking you’d still have the problem TMSC is having right now, just more widespread as they have to adapt to whatever the culture being imported everywhere to shore up worker counts is everywhere it is happening.

Jajcus ,

I hope they can be held accountable for mistreating those 'transplants" (what an ugly word!) too. But I guess that would be easier here in EU than in USA.

bjoern_tantau ,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

I’m reminded of the time Walmart tried to enter Germany with their work culture. But in their case it wasn’t just that the Germans didn’t like it. It was illegal. And the German customers were weirded out by Walmart employees smiling and being so cheerful all the time.

rottingleaf ,

But in their case it wasn’t just that the Germans didn’t like it. It was illegal.

I want to learn more?..

bjoern_tantau ,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

youtu.be/59AMOwlf6XQ

Don’t know if it’s in the video, but as far as I remember it was about how working hours were calculated and about worker surveillance. And Walmart trying to control worker’s private lifes by forbidding sexual relationships between workers.

rottingleaf ,

And Walmart trying to control worker’s private lifes by forbidding sexual relationships between workers.

Just why would they do that? And were that their concern, wouldn’t such people work better, not worse?

bjoern_tantau ,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

I guess the rational is that a breakup would lead to worse job performance.

rottingleaf ,

Well, that’s quite strange math, the amount of breakups between Walmart employees is expected to be less that the amount of relationships. Facts from the former are mostly a subset of facts from the latter actually.

Unless we consider the possibility that couples come to work at Walmart and break up there, but couples rarely form while already there.

Fred ,

Justification I’ve heard is that if one part of the couple is managing the other, or is promoted after the relationship started, then:

  • there is a power imbalance in the couple, possibly one is coercing the other (« I can’t leave him/her, they’ll make my worklife hell / get me fired »);
  • there is a risk the manager will promote their partner even if their job performance doesn’t warrant it

Companies will want to both avoid this sort of things, and avoid being seen to enable this sort of things. They might want to move one of the parties to a different department so that the higher up one doesn’t make promotion decisions for the other.

I’ve once worked at a company that wanted to know about relationships between their employees and suppliers/customers’ employees, again because that might enable situations where a supplier / customer is treater favourably because of personal relationships

barsoap ,

Also things like selling their loss leaders below purchase price. The kicker is that they still lost the price war they started even though the German discounters kept things legal.

Then there was something about not wanting to publish their balance sheets as they’re required to, shutting out the works council from stuff that the works council has a right to be involved in, the list is endless. Not only did they not have a German CEO to manage all that stuff they apparently didn’t even have German lawyers.

NeoNachtwaechter ,

By law: 8 hours as the rule, never more than 10 hours for exceptions.

By contract, they can go a little above the 8 hours.

If they go above the 10, it can cost the company a lot even for a single case.

rottingleaf ,

So they didn’t plan even for such simple things. Wow.

echodot ,

Apple still tries to have the cherry up-beat customer services department in the UK and it doesn’t work. It’s a Saturday, no one wants to be doing this call, don’t pretend otherwise it’s weird.

blindbunny ,
FalseMyrmidon ,

Oh, I think I saw this movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film)

jeffw ,
@jeffw@lemmy.world avatar

Really? Nobody at TSMC thought to google “biggest mistake companies make when opening US plants”? Because this has all happened before

rottingleaf ,

Because this has all happened before

Humans generally don’t consider this.

Specifically East Asian managers, I suppose, think they are the ones who’ll finally do it right and make the serfs grow rice by the schedule and without complaints, and those previous attempts were done by some failures and discards who don’t know how to hammer down nails that go up and so on.

(Not racist, just joking)

AgentGrimstone ,

I remember watching a documentary a few years ago where this exact situation happened. Chinese company buys American company, tries to establish their work culture and it just doesn’t work.

sunbeam60 ,

It’s the same the world over. I’ve worked for years for a western company which has got a large part of their business in Asia and China.

You try taking our “western ways” of leadership to China and see how well it fares; what I would consider “leaving space for a leader to operate and feel accountable” is seen as “my leader has no fucking clue what he is doing; he never tells me what he wants me to do”.

Culture eats everything for breakfast. As a western leader in China you have to act like a controlling maniac (in my cultural frame) to be seen as an effective leader in China.

And it goes both ways. My brother reports to a Chinese manager transplanted to the west and she “desperately wants to micromanage everything” according to the western team.

We are all trying our best.

veeesix ,
@veeesix@lemmy.ca avatar

Probably American Factory from 2019. Definitely a recommended watch for anyone unfamiliar with the topic.

jumjummy ,

Yep that’s probably the one. Super depressing, especially all the anti-union tactics.

AgentGrimstone ,

Went back to see the trailer and yeah, that’s the one.

wolfylow ,

Reminds me of the Netflix show “American Factory” about a Chinese factory opening in the US.

Quite a fascinating clash of cultures.

collapse_already ,

Which reminded me of an 80s movie called Gung Ho about a Japanese company that bought an American automobile manufacturer and the ensuing culture clash.

WanderingVentra ,

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.

Gormadt ,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Happy workers are hard workers, treat them like shit and they’ll walk right out the door.

BigTrout75 ,

Correct! Well unless, they’re starving and need to feed their families.

Damage ,

Aren’t the machines TSMC uses made in the Netherlands? They’re the only ones who can get down to that size, and they do it working 36 hours a week…

admin ,
@admin@lemmy.my-box.dev avatar

My brother worked for such a Dutch company (ASM) and often got sent overseas to supervise the setting up of the production lines with these machines.

He mentioned when he’d get sent to Asia, the workers would make sure to get it done over a weekend, while implementing the same setup would take 2 to 3 weeks in the US. In part that was due to the working conditions mentioned, but also simple lack of planning in case of the latter (things would grind down to a haalt because certain changes would need to be made, and the person responsible for the decision wouldn’t respond for hours or days, etc).

Side note: while 36 hour work weeks are common in the Netherlands, 40 hours is still the norm in my experience.

BeatTakeshi ,
@BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world avatar

It can’t be just that. The cultural difference is real in the sense that there is in Asia in general more obedience or reverence or discipline or selflessness or whatever you call it, that you simply don’t find at scale in western civilisations. Whether it’s good or bad I don’t judge

Llewellyn , (edited )

Well, it’s bad from a western POV.

cyd ,

Funny thing is, TSMC in Taiwan is considered a premium employer. It offers much better pay and parks than other companies.

Llewellyn ,

Parks?

BeatTakeshi ,
@BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world avatar

Perks

Speculater ,
@Speculater@lemmy.world avatar

Now we don’t know they don’t have kick-ass parks.

Passerby6497 ,

You can’t say that, having a park at work is a hell of a perk.

darklamer ,
@darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Science park expansion ratified: www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/…/2003811196

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