After TSMC began building Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, the company said it needed to dispatch more than 1,000 skilled workers from Taiwan so it could complete the project on time and within budget. This made Arizona unions furious , as they argued it essentially took positions from locals, and the situation even spurred a separate lawsuit for racial discrimination. Today, about 50% of the staff at the fab still originate from Taiwan, but this will change over time as TSMC builds out additional phases of its factory, reports the New York Times .
About half of the 2,200 employees at TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona come from Taiwan, an unusually high proportion of foreign workers for a project like this. When announcing the project in 2020, TSMC assured the public it would create jobs for locals, so bringing over 1,000 employees from Taiwan contradicts the foundry’s promise to hire talent from Arizona, which naturally angered unions.
TSMC reportedly also had working policies that contradict those in the U.S. Over time, it turned out that TSMC called for employees to work for extended hours , which is not common in the U.S. Over time, TSMC has also been accused of preferring Taiwanese employees for promotion in a lawsuit.