China's universities produce far more engineers with degrees in manufacturing and chemical engineering (et.al.) than does the U.S.
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Apple Supplier TSMC Delays Production of 4nm Chips at Arizona Factory Due to Skilled Worker Shortage
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I’m sure they do since there are over 3 times the population in China vs the US.
This is what happens when we let CEOs and execs make over 200 times the saleary as the average worker in the company. Its not sustainable to keep the little people down.
If we wanted outdated technology we would just use the existing Intel fabs/workers you mentioned. The point is, those people can’t get to 5nm and lower to save their lives (hence, not skilled enough to work at TSMC).
Like people are really going to even want 4nm chips when we have already been told 3nm Macs are coming by the end of this year. Kinda a waste of money if you ask me. But we do need to manufacture these chips on American soil.
It's a 100 percent done deal that China is going to attack Taiwan . The big question is how soon? And if it happens Chip supply falls to Zero.
It's a 100 percent done deal that China is going to attack Taiwan . The big question is how soon? And if it happens Chip supply falls to Zero.
There was a news report on CNBC a while back that looked at the idea of bringing smart phone manufacturing to the USA. One of the experts they interviewed was Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, CEO of Instrumental. She used to be a product design engineer at Apple and led the design team for the Apple Watch. She also used to spend tons of time in China troubleshooting supply chain issues for Apple. However, later she quit Apple and started Instrumental, a company that helps other companies develop their manufacturing processes and supply chain, etc.
One of the things she and others emphasized was the fact that the US is far behind many other countries when it comes to skilled workforce and established related infrastructure for high volume high-tech manufacturing. They also said that the supply chain essentially doesn't even exist anymore in the US. It's NOT just about throwing money at people. If you think can immediately find a fully skilled workforce to build or staff your new high tech manufacturing factory and get it humming along quickly simply by forking out enough money to pay them at normal market rates, you're probably going to be in for a big letdown, because that pool of workers just doesn't exist in high enough numbers in the US, and neither does the supply chain. They did acknowledge that high end manufacturing can be done in the US, but typically at much lower volumes.
One of the things she and others emphasized was the fact that the US is far behind many other countries when it comes to skilled workforce and established related infrastructure for high volume high-tech manufacturing. They also said that the supply chain essentially doesn't even exist anymore in the US. It's NOT just about throwing money at people. If you think can immediately find a fully skilled workforce to build or staff your new high tech manufacturing factory and get it humming along quickly simply by forking out enough money to pay them at normal market rates, you're probably going to be in for a big letdown, because that pool of workers just doesn't exist in high enough numbers in the US, and neither does the supply chain. They did acknowledge that high end manufacturing can be done in the US, but typically at much lower volumes.
TSMC dominance as the world’s largest chipmaker explained
TSMC’s current production capacity is full but will prioritize the production of auto chips if it is able to further increase capacity.
techwireasia.com
Probably one of the main reasons why China would like to eh acquire Taiwan. They are the mother lode of chip making and the most advanced.
For the top 10 chip makers
The 10 Largest Chip Manufacturers in the World and What They Do
Microchips are an integral part of technology. Read on to learn more about the 10 largest chip manufacturers in the world and what they do!
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RTFA.
The issue is NOT whether there are enough skilled workers to staff the working fab once it is done... The issue at hand is that there aren't enough skilled workers TO BUILD THE PLACE TO SPECIFICATION.
All this hot air being blown around, and you didn't stop to actually RTFA.
Geez, people.
About 99% of the above rants, complaints, comments, etc are utterly groundless.
The issue is NOT whether there are enough skilled workers to staff the working fab once it is done... The issue at hand is that there aren't enough skilled workers TO BUILD THE PLACE TO SPECIFICATION.
All this hot air being blown around, and you didn't stop to actually RTFA.
Geez, people.
About 99% of the above rants, complaints, comments, etc are utterly groundless.
Good to see the new chip manufacturing facility coming up in USA
The villagers in China are hired to assemble iPhones and computers on an assembly line, where the work is repetitive and can be learned quickly.
What TMSC can't hire is people who can build out the plant. This is not assembly line work, it is setting up a high-tech factory. When you build a chip fab, it is a one-time deal. You are building something that is not exactly like the last one you build.
We have the same thing in the automotive industry. There are factory workers who build cars and also factory builders who design and build car factories. The second group are MUCH harder to find.
Even fast food is like this. Some workers cook burgers and operate a cash register. But before that, they need people who know how to install the burger grills and exhaust systems and fire suppression systems and how to connect the cash registers to the main computers and install air-conditioning and so on and so on. Finding a crew to build a fast food store is not way-hard because you only need perhaps 40 different people. But building a chip fab means you need to hire THOUSANDS or skilled technicians.
More proof needed the U.S. is lagging in education? Most educated engineers are already taken by Elon. Go Figure?
True. Combined with a failing education system and a culture that glorifies stupidity, it’s going to be very very hard to turn the tide.
Too many students studying journalism and other BS "professions."
$100 million of tim cook's salary bumps all Apple employees' pay by $0.097/hour.
stupid take.
What is the point of this if the educated Asians and Indians are dying to work for the western companies? The loss of "American consumers" will be a total disaster for China where the villagers will have to go back to village and practice martial arts instead of manufacturing iPhones?
So maybe the true brilliance comes from the ability to setup a system where you can afford to be a "drunk and dumb consumer"?
You can't equate the highest skill manufacturing of top tier silicon with "manufacturing" in general.
I thought that the US workforce was too skilled for most manufacturing in general. The cost would be too high to do China style manufacturing internally. Hell, even Mexico is too high skilled and costly at this point to do this.
High end silicon is a completely different beast, and the road to moving that kind of capability from one place to another is always going to be bumpy.
It's because humanity is valued so poorly in places like China that it's historically been cheaper to throw low cost human labour at the problem than to go for high end automation.
I think this will change now that globalisation is declining and China is no longer a safe bet to do business in.
The amount of low cost human labour, and low cost high efficiency global supply chains, are on drastic decline and will probably, finally force manufacturing to change towards that vision you're talking about.
I wasn't really sure what the current trends have been, so I though I would check... The most recent academic year that data is available for is 2020/2021. In that cycle 2,066,445 4-year Bachelor's Degrees were issued. The top 5 fields (making up 51% of graduates) were:
- 391,375, or 18.9% of degrees issued were in a Business related field, which was the most popular.
- 268,018, or 12.9% got degrees in health/medical related professions.
- 160,827, or 7.8% got Social Sciences and History studies.
- 131,499, or 6.4% for degrees in Biological Science
- 126,037, or 6.1% went into Engineering
- 7,374, or 0.3% (and trending downward), graduated with degrees in "Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies"
- 90,775, or 4.4%, graduated with degrees in "Communication, journalism, and related programs" and keep in mind that includes people getting degrees in Broadcasting and Broadcast Engineering type roles that are in demand too.
Some other interesting numbers from the stats:
- 104,874, or 5.1% of degrees were awarded in Computer or Information Sciences
- 89,398, or 4.3% went into Education
- 58,009, or 2.8% graduated with degrees in "Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting"
- 41,909, or 2% got a degree in "Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities"
- 4,589, or 0.2% got a Law/Legal Studies degree.
- 28, yes 0.00001%, got a degree in "Precision production"
Here is the raw data.
Clearly there is no epidemic of people flocking en masse to so-called "BS" degrees, most of which have held steady at low rates or declined over the years.
If you are going to spend energy and effort trying to get a group to reconsider their career path, the one we should probably be concerned about is Business. Accounting, Marketing and many aspects of Business Management that people get undergrad degrees for are poised to be some of the first fields majorly disrupted by AI as they are extremely driven by data and results that it would be super easy to train an AI model against.
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As someone who enjoys the benefits of the destruction of the old WINTEL monopoly, I too approve the work of these two CEOs. And if Intel employees are happy with a 20 percent workforce reduction, then it's a win-win for all.
There ARE skilled factory builders in the US because who built all the technology factories in the first place? The US had chip production but was later outsourced to China so where are the people that built those factories? Yes many will have gone on to work in other fields of employment BUT that is irrelevant because the skilled work force is there but they will not go build a factory for TSMC unless they are paid good enough wages to do so. Maybe TSMC's problem is they are not prepared to pay good wages thus complain of a skills worker shortage. Pay well and they will come 
This has GOT to be something they were aware of up front… perhaps why they were focused specifically on Arizona. If it falls through because there’s no contractors willing to take on the job because pouring a slab for a new Home Depot or a neighborhood of McMansions is far more profitable, then when they back out of the deal, it’s because of circumstances not under their control.
Retired or dead? Sounds like a job for a good TechnoNecromancer.
There ARE skilled factory builders in the US because who built all the technology factories in the first place? The US had chip production but was later outsourced to China so where are the people that built those factories? Yes many will have gone on to work in other fields of employment BUT that is irrelevant because the skilled work force is there but they will not go build a factory for TSMC unless they are paid good enough wages to do so. Maybe TSMC's problem is they are not prepared to pay good wages thus complain of a skills worker shortage. Pay well and they will come
The machines to produce the chips are made by an European company, not American.
Also Intel relies on this European company to make it's chip.
The US economy is a service economy as around 80% works in services, with state and local government being the largest employer.
Someone who works in hospitality or who prices the subscription of Netflix are not engineers that can work for TSMC.